Espada Children
by Serene Ice Dragon
Summary: When one of Szayel's experiments goes horribly wrong, Aizen, Gin and Tousen find themselves facing their most difficult task yet: babysitting!
1. The Experiment

_Author's Note: So one day I was cleaning, and bam! An idea for a fanfiction randomly popped into my head! I haven't seen any like this yet, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I apologize for the length, it ended up being a rather short introductory chapter, but the rest will be longer. Feedback is greatly appreciated! Enjoy!_

The experiment should have been a success. Szayel had carefully researched the subject for some time, and was confident in his findings. He had wanted to create young Arrancar, ones who are born as Arrancar and grow up the same way humans do. It was an odd experiment, fueled more by curiosity and his thirst for knowledge than for anything particularly useful, though he imagined once he could create a child Arrancar, it would gain immense power as it grew, perhaps surpassing that of even what Aizen could create.

The first thoughts about a child Arrancar came when Noitora had decided to get rid of Neliel. His cracking Neliel's mask had had a rather interesting affect: the fully grown Espada had shrunk down to a mere chid, forgetting everything about her position among the Espada and having the mentality to match her small body.

Most Arrancar also weren't born as such. A Hollow had to work it's way up, gaining power and becoming a higher rank. When they become a Menos, life becomes truly chaotic, as they eat other hollows in order to grow. Gillians feed on Hollows and other Gillians, evolving into an Adjuchas if one of the Hollows that comprise a Gillian can overpower the rest. In order to retain this form and evolve further, it must eat more Hollow still. Should a part of a Menos be eaten, it is doomed to stay among the lower-class, never able to evolve. Compared to the Hollow population, few Adjuchas ever make it to the Vasto Lorde level. It is these Menos that have the greatest chances of having a human form when ripping off their masks in order to become an Arrancar.

Though, not all Arrancar had to go through such an ordeal. Aizen had the power to create powerful Arrancar using the Hogyoku, which is how the child-like Wonderweiss had come into existence. Now, Szayel wanted to find yet another way to create powerful Arrancar. Should his experiment have worked, he would be able to make young Arrancar from Hollows. Though they would be weak at first, he calculated they would have amazing potential as they grew, possibly surpassing that of Arrancar born into adult forms. It could also serve as another way to create Arrancar when the Hogyoku needed rest.

Unfortunately, things did not go quite as planned. The results were something Szayel would have never imagined.

"Yammy, what have I said about coming near my lab?" A very annoyed Szayel asked the large Espada.

Yammy scratched his head. "Uh...never to come no matter what."

"Good. Then why, may I ask,_ are you in here_?!" The scientist was quickly losing his patience. Yammy being anywhere near his lab meant certain doom, and he would not have that moron of an Espada ruining his experiment. He was too close for any mistakes now.

"But I got lost and I had to ask somebody for help! You were the only one nearby!"

Szayel had to stop himself from throwing a glass beaker at Yammy's head. No doubt Ichimaru was playing with the corridors again. That oaf Yammy always fell for it, leaving destroyed walls in his wake. Apparently, this time he couldn't find a way out even by punching through the walls.

"I am extremely busy right now. Step out of my lab this instant, and find your own way out."

Yammy frowned. "B-but Szayel! I ca-"

"I don't care what you can and can't do! Get out of my lab before I strap you down to a table and make _you_ a lab rat!"

The bigger Espada clenched his hands into fists. "You are always so mean to me! All I wanted was for you to show me the way out! I'm not moving until you help me!"

By this time the pink-haired scientist was ready to throw burning acid at Aizen's Tenth and leave him there to become a puddle of fluids. Putting the glass beaker of some liquid substance aside, he slammed his hands on the table, stood up, and finally turned to face Yammy. "If you do not turn around and leave this lab _right now_-"

"I'm not afraid of you! You have all your fancy stuff, but you are small! You can't make me move!"

Outside the lab, Grimmjow had paused from where he was going to listen to the argument between the geek and the dummy. "The hell is going on in there?" Curious and with nothing better to do, he stood by the door, listening.

"Want to bet, you big oaf?" Picking up a vial from it's holder nearby, Szayel approached Yammy. He held the container up, showing off the neon green fluid inside. "Do you see this? This is one of the poisons I created. Just slip some of this into a drink, or force it down somebody's throat, and it will decay their body from the inside out, until the organs are nothing but a sticky mush. Oh wait, I'm sorry, you are not smart enough to comprehend that. Let me word it in a way that is more simple for you to understand. It will hurt. Badly."

Yammy's face turned red with anger. "I know what that means! Stop talking down to me!" He made a move to punch Szayel, but the smaller Espada gracefully avoided the fist flying at his face.

"Fine then. I see you leave me with no choice."

Grimmjow laughed at the fight happening in front of his eyes. He was now joined by Noitora, who found the fight as humorous as Grimmjow did, and Stark, who had been dragged there by Lilinette.

"Don't you think we should do something?" Stark asked, just waiting for something in the lab to explode.

Noitora waved a bony hand. "Nah, let 'em fight. Maybe we'll get lucky and Yammy will strangle Szayel to death while Szayel injects some kind of poison in him."

There was a sound of breaking glass followed by Szayel yelling.

"You idiot! This is why I don't want you in my lab! I should make you clean that up with your tongue!"

"You did it again! You called me an idiot!"

"That's because you _are_ one!"

Soon, all the Espada had gathered around the entrance to Szayel's lab, be it because they were eager to see the fight, or because there was a commotion they felt a need to break up. Whatever the reason, they were all in the wrong place at the very wrong time.

Szayel continued trying to threaten Yammy away with a scalpel in one hand and a vial of some dangerous fluid in the other. The smaller man was easily pushed away, however, as Yammy shoved him, making Szayel fall into the table he had been working at before the intrusion.

The scientist's eyes widened in horror, time seemingly slowing down as he watched two beakers, a vial and a petri dish all fall to the ground. For a split second, Yammy seemed to realize something was wrong as his large mouth dropped open. Before Szayel could make any move to stop the ingredients from falling, they shattered on the ground, combining with some other concoction that had fallen from a shelf earlier. The moment they all came into contact, a bright flash of light followed by a thunder-like rumble filled the lab, engulfing all that were anywhere within twenty-five feet of the lab.

The explosion interrupted Aizen's afternoon tea with Ichimaru and Tousen. Interrupting Aizen's tea time was a big no no, and something every Espada made sure not to do. Aizen sighed, setting his cup down.

"Gin, Kaname, can you go see what in Hueco Mundo is going on? Whatever it is must be serious to be taking place at this time of day."

Ichimaru nodded. "Of course."

Leaving their tea behind, Aizen's two partners-in-crime swept down the halls of Las Noches, following the reiatsu of the Espada.

"Ichimaru, is it me, or did their reiatsu suddenly...weaken?" Tousen asked, noting the sudden lack of spirit energy in the air after the explosion. All the Espada were still there, but their power seemed to have dropped drastically.

"Seems that way. I guess we'll find out what happened whe-" The Shinigami's remaining words were lost as he came upon the scene of the crime. His mouth dropped open as he discovered what had happened to all of the Espada.


	2. Consequence

Ichimaru couldn't believe the scene in front of his eyes. Sitting on the floor outside of Szayel's lab were eight Espada children, each no more than five years old, looking around in a daze. Even Aaroniero had been affected, taking the form of a young Kaien, which seemed to be his preferred disguise. Szayel rushed passed the young Arrancar and into the lab, only to discover Yammy and Szayel had suffered the same fate.

"They've all been turned into little kids!" Ichimaru cried out in disbelief.

"Little kids?" Tousen repeated. That would explain their sudden drop in reiatsu. It seemed their powers had been diminished quite a bit due to their sudden drastic decrease in age, though they were still stronger than the low level Hollows. "Shall I go inform Aizen?"

Ichimaru frowned. "Yeah, I suppose I'll stay and keep an eye on 'em. Go quickly though, will ya?" He would have preferred going to tell Aizen himself, but with Tousen's blindness, it would be more difficult for him to prevent anything else from going wrong

As Tousen walked away, Yammy began crawling to a pile of broken glass.

"Woah, woah, woah! No you don't!" Ichimaru swept down on the large five-year-old and grabbed his hand, pulling him away from the sharps shards. Yammy, however, had no intention of leaving the shiny pieces, and began to whine, reaching for the glass.

Ichimaru turned around and began walking away, dragging young Yammy with him. "That's not to play with."

The Tenth Espada's protests grew louder until he had reached the point of screaming. "Let go! Let go!" When his yelling got him nothing more than being yanked forward, he decided it was time to force Ichimaru to give him what he wanted. Positioning himself right beside the Shinigami, Yammy delivered a powerful kick to Ichimaru's leg.

"Yeow!" Ichimaru yelped as he let go of Yammy's hand, letting the Espada run from him. "Why you little-"

Yammy laughed as Ichimaru was forced to run after him, chasing him around the lab like a cat chasing a mouse. Several times the Shinigami had almost crashed into a table or shelf. He had finally almost caught up to the Espada when he slipped on some spilled liquid, lost his footing, and landed hard on his rear end. At this, Yammy laughed, clapping as the man chasing him rubbed his behind. He was so busy laughing, he didn't realize Ichimaru had gotten back to his feet, and was roughly grabbed and dragged outside to where the other Espada were still sitting, most of them laughing at the spectacle. Szayel shook his head mumbling something about fools and following Ichimaru out of the lab.

"Don't you ever try to ru- ah, Aizen!" Ichimaru gave a nervous laugh as he realized Aizen and Tousen were waiting outside the lab.

"Gin, why are you handling Yammy so roughly?" Aizen asked in his naturally fatherly voice.

Ichimaru let go of the Espada's arm, letting him drop to the floor where he pouted. "Well, he tried ta play with some glass, and ran away when I tried to take him outta the lab."

Tousen shook his head while Aizen gave Ichimaru an unnerving grin. "You are going to have to learn how to properly take care of children. Perhaps Kaname can assist you." He turned his gaze to Tousen. "You take care of Wonderweiss, correct? I take it you can teach Gin how to watch these...children?"

"Yes, I can." Tousen answered. Aizen smiled.

"Very good. Well, with our Espada out of commission for the time being, I'm going to be rather busy. I'll leave you two to care for them, though I'll be available if there is an emergency."

Ichimaru nodded as Aizen grinned and walked away. The silver-haired Shinigami sighed. The instructions Aizen gave were his pleasant way of saying, "Make sure these kids don't do anything wrong and do not bother me unless somebody's life is in danger."

"Ain't this just wonderful. Now we gotta watch a bunch of little brats"

"Hey, who are you callin' brats?" A young Noitora asked, glaring up at Ichimaru. "Asshole."

The Espada's choice of insult caught Ichimaru by surprise. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, Squinty!"

"Why you-"

An extended arm was all that kept Ichimaru from going after the skinny child. Tousen shot Ichimaru a glare- or, at least, he guessed that was the look he would be receiving had it not been for the visor that covered the bind man's eyes- and kneeled down to Noitora.

"Noitora, that is not how you speak to Ichimaru. You should also not be using bad words."

"I'll say whatever the fuck I want." The Espada sneered.

"Noitora." Tousen's voice was stern enough to grab the child's attention, but not so harsh as to make him even more defiant. "Do not use those words. If I hear you speak like that again, you will be in trouble. Do you understand?"

Noitora's glare didn't soften, but he did give in. "Yeah, I understand."

The Shinigami gave a small smile. "Good. Now can you apologize to Ichimaru?"

"F-" Noitora caught himself before finishing the word he had just been warned not to use and tried again. "I ain't 'pologizing to him. He is the one who is being mean!"

"You are right, Ichimaru should not have said that. He is going to apologize for it, but I would like you to apologize as well."

Catching Tousen's hint, Ichimaru sighed. "Sorry for callin' ya brats." He had to resist rolling his eyes, for Noitora was glaring at him and would certainly catch the movement. He couldn't believe he was apologizing to the five-year-old version of somebody ranked below him.

At first, Noitora would not say anything, but when Tousen did not move, he realized he had no choice but to apologize. "Sorry that you are such a jerk, and I won't use bad words." He grinned to himself as he noted that he never _promised_ not to swear anymore. At least, he would try not to when the adults were around.

Ichimaru opened his mouth to say something about the apology he had received, but stopped as Tousen stood up.

"Good enough for now. Now, we are going to need a play room for you all." The Shinigami thought for a moment, trying to figure out where there was a safe room the Espada could stay.

"There's a large room near the northeast that nobody is usin'. There's nothin' in it."

Tousen gave a small nod. "That sounds like a good idea. Would you like to lead the children?"

The look on Ichimaru's face said no, but he gave in. "Okay. Everyone, follow me."

Little Ulquiorra stood up and got behind Ichimaru, Szayel getting behind him to start a line. Grimmjow, however, wouldn't have Ulquiorra being ahead of him, and ran to the front of the line, tossing Ulquiorra a dirty look before facing forward. In turn, Noitora decided that he didn't want to be the fourth in line, and got in front of Grimmjow.

"Hey! I was here first!" Grimmjow complained, stepping in front of Noitora.

"So? Who says you get to be first?" Noitora shot back, reclaiming his position in front of Grimmjow.

This time, Grimmjow spun Noitora around to face him. "_I_ say that I get to be first."

"Well I say that I get to be first!" Noitora sneered.

The two Espada were soon yelling at each other, only moments away from wrestling each other to the ground. Deciding something had to be done, a mustache-less Barragan stepped in front of the two.

"I know how to fix this."

The fifth and sixth Espada took their attention off of each other and onto Barragan. "How?" They asked in unison, glaring.

"I'll be first." He replied simply, taking what he believed to be his rightful place in the front of the line.

"No way!" Grimmjow yelled, getting in Barragans' face.

Before anybody got a chance to punch anybody else, Ichimaru got between the children, pulling them apart.

"We aren't going to fight over who is first in line, it doesn't matter. Just follow me and no more arguing."

Tousen cleared his throat, signaling Ichimaru to wait. "Noitora and Grimmjow, I want you both in the back. Since Ulquiorra is being so well behaved, he can be in the front." He held up a hand as Grimmjow tried to argue, silencing him. "If you are going to argue about who is going to be first, that is what is going to happen. For misbehaving, you are sent to the back. If you behave, the next time we get in a line, you can be first."

Grumbling, Grimmjow marched to the back of the line, Noitora reluctantly trailing behind him. The rest of the Espada had fallen into line without much difficulty. Finally, Ichimaru began leading the children down the halls, Tousen walking beside him.

"How are ya so good at this?" Ichimaru asked, a bit amazed and surprised at Tousen's ability to deal with children.

Tousen shrugged. "It's not too difficult. You have to remember, they are only 5 years old now. They need instruction. You have to guide them without just barking out orders. You have to let them know why they got in trouble and why they have to do certain things. That's how they learn."

Ichimaru sighed. Tousen was so much better at this than him. Why couldn't Aizen take care of the kids with Tousen while he ran Hueco Mundo? It couldn't be that hard, it's not like there was much of anything to do. Until Ichigo or Soul Society decided to invade, there wasn't anything to worry about. Ichimaru suddenly realized that they would be in trouble if anybody decided to show up now. The Espada wouldn't be able to take on Shinigami now, and the Privion Espada and fraccion were only good for so much.

Now that he thought about it, why didn't Aizen just have the Espada's fraccion take care of them? Why was it that he had just two people caring for ten children? Did he not want the event to be known? If so, it was going to be awfully hard explaining the Espada's absences. Whatever the reason, he'd have to remember to ask Aizen about it as soon as the head honcho got back. Hopefully he was already discussing the matter with them.

By the time Ichimaru realized it, they were already at the place designated to be the Espada's new play room.

"Ah, here we are! Well, shall we let them play and go find Aizen?"

Tousen raised an eyebrow. "They need toys, Ichimaru. Do you expect to just leave them in an empty room and they will keep themselves entertained?"

"They can play with each other."

The darker skinned Shinigami shook his head. "You saw what happened between Noitora and Grimmjow earlier. Do you really expect them to just get along and play when they have no toys?"

Ichimaru felt like he wanted to bang his head against a wall. "Where are we going to find children's toys?"

Tousen put a hand to his chin. "Hmm...Perhaps one of us will have to take a trip to the real world and buy some toys. There is nothing I can think of in all of Hueco Mundo suitable for young children, and there is nobody available to make anything. I shall go find Aizen and ask him about it. Will you be able to handle the children?"

"You are better at this than me. Shouldn't you watch them while I go to the real world?" Ichimaru really didn't want to be stuck with the brats while Tousen was shopping.

Tousen frowned. He wouldn't mind staying and watching the children, but the fact he was blind made keeping an eye on them rather difficult. At the same time, he feared leaving Ichimaru to care for them all on his own. It was a choice between the lesser of two evils: having a blind man watch 10 five-year-olds, or having a man who seemed to know nothing about children watch 10 five-year-olds. A difficult decision indeed.

The Shinigami's thought's were interrupted as he felt a tugging on his hakama. Young Stark was looking up at him, frowning. "I'm hungry."

"Ichimaru, perhaps this will work out after all. I can take the children all to the kitchen to eat, and you can head out to the real world to get the toys. How does that sound?" Tousen suggested.

Ichimaru grinned. "I think that's a wonderful idea. Shall I get going?"

"Hold on a moment. You'll need money. You weren't going to just walk into a store and steal their toys, were you?" The silence that followed told Tousen that stealing was exactly what Ichimaru had in mind. Tousen sighed. "You can't just cheat the poor people out of their money. I'm sure Aizen can help you. Why don't you go find him, tell him what is going on, and I'll get the Espada to the kitchen."

Ichimaru held his hands up in defeat. "Alright, alright." Things just had to be difficult, didn't they?

"Please try and go as fast as you can." Tousen added in before Ichimaru left the room. "Alright, back in line everyone. This time, show me you can get into line without a problem."

Much to the Shinigami's satisfaction, the children managed to get themselves into a line without difficulty. Noitora, of course, had rushed to the front the moment Tousen mentioned getting in line, but Grimmjow didn't argue. Ulquiorra had taken up the rear along with Stark without any complaints, so Grimmjow had no qualms about being sixth in line. Barragan was slightly annoyed at not being first, but was satisfied with being the second in line in front of Halibel.

"Everyone ready? Follow me." Tousen led the 10 Espada down the halls once again, this time heading for the kitchen. He wondered if any of the Arrancar that ran it were still in there. It was an odd time of the day for the kitchen to be in use, having just finished with afternoon tea. Luckily, he wouldn't have to cook for the Espada. All he needed were enough small Hollows to fill 10 little stomachs. The kitchen was at the edge of the castle, being not far south of the newly designated playroom they had left from. This granted easy access to the outside, where, if necessary, he could gather more Hollow. Tousen figured feeding the children wouldn't prove to be too difficult. As long as Ichimaru returned before they were finished, Tousen wouldn't need to find a way to keep them entertained.

"Stop poking me!" Szayel suddenly complained, turning around to glare at Grimmjow behind him.

"Why is your hair pink? Pink is a girly color." The sixth Espada teased, pulling at a piece of Szayel's hair.

The scientist whacked Grimmjow's hand away. "Pink is a wonderful color. Don't think that just because it is light doesn't mean it can't be dangerous."

At the use of the word dangerous, Grimmjow laughed harder. "Dangerous? Pink is for girls and you know it!" Before Szayel could retaliate, Grimmjow began to chant, "Szayel is a girl, Szayel is a girl!"

"Grimmjow!" Tousen yelled, catching the Espada's attention. "Do I have to send you to the back of the line again? Stop teasing Szayel. "

"But he likes pink! Everybody knows pink is a girl's color!"

"Everybody has their favorite color. If Szayel likes pink, there is no problem with that. No color is just for girls or just for boys."

As Gimmjow quieted down and ceased his teasing Szayel, Yammy decided he no longer wanted to walk, and plopped himself down on the ground where he had been standing. Almost tripping over him, Aaroneiro grew aggravated. "Yammy, why are you sitting? You are in the way, get up!"

"I'm tired of walking. I want to eat." The large Espada complained.

"That's where we are going! So get up and keep walking!"

Tousen rubbed his forehead, beginning to get a headache from the constant bickering. He hoped that whatever had turned all of the Espada into children wouldn't last long. It would be wonderful if they were returned to normal by the end of the day, though he had to be prepared to take care of them for longer. One thing was certain: until the effects of the accident wore off, Tousen and Ichimaru were going to have very long days ahead of them.


	3. Toys, Food, and Fun?

It was a lovely day in Karakura Town. Many of the children were playing games outdoors, adults were enjoying walks in the park with their dogs, and the streets were crowded. Overall, Ichimaru was not pleased. Aizen had provided him with a Gigai and money in order to buy toys for the young Espada. Had there not been so many people, it would have been more pleasurable, as Ichimaru got to get away from Hueco Mundo and leave Tousen to feed the children. Now, however, it was more of a pain and would make his task all the more difficult. It didn't help that he had to walk quite a way, since he couldn't just open up a portal in the middle of the hustle and bustle and step out where everyone could see him. He didn't understand why he couldn't have just come without a Gigai and taken the toys when nobody was looking. He could have left money on the counter for the shopkeeper to pay for what he took, but Aizen insisted that he buy toys properly. Sometimes Ichimaru wondered if Aizen just enjoyed making things difficult.

The Shinigami eventually found the toy store, and, much to his displeasure, it was packed with whiny kids begging their parents to buy things for them. With a heavy sigh, Ichimaru entered the shop.

There were toys of all kinds lining the shelves, from simple balls to electronic walking robots. The question was what to get. There were 10 Espada, so he would have to buy quite a few toys. Grabbing a shopping basket, Ichimaru started to pick toys out he thought five-year-olds would like. After picking up Legos, balls, Hot Wheels cars, and a few assorted other toys, Ichimaru got in line to pay for his merchandise. As he neared the counter, he froze as he heard two all too familiar voices.

"They have Chappy! Ichigo! I need you to buy that for me!"

"Are you serious? Rukia, it's a stuffed animal. Aren't you too old for stuffed an- Ouch! What was that for?"

"How dare you say that about Chappy! Now buy it for me!"

"Fine, fine. If I buy it, will you leave me alone?"

Though tempted to turn around, Ichimaru kept his eyes facing forward. He hoped the two wouldn't recognize him in casual clothing. Jeans and a black sleeveless shirt were far different from his Shinigami uniform, so unless they saw his face, they probably wouldn't even consider it was him. Yes, it would be fine. Why would Ichimaru Gin, Shinigami and traitor to Soul Society, be shopping in a toy store? It would make no sense for them to believe it was him, the thought was ridiculous. So ridiculous he was currently cashing out, grabbing his bags and walking out the door. As he turned around to head out the door, however, a loud voice stopped him.

"Y-you?!"

Ichimaru stopped and glanced over his shoulder to see Ichigo open mouthed, pointing at him and looking like he had just seen Godzilla taking a casual stroll through the park, Rukia by his side and looking just as much in disbelief.

"Do I know you?" Ichimaru asked.

Ichigo was at a loss for words. "Wh-what are you- why are you- how did-what-"

"Can't a guy buy toys for his children? Pointin' is very rude, ya know."

Ichigo lowered his hand and realized the entire store was staring at him. When Rukia realized he was going to continue standing there like an idiot, she spoke up.

"We are very sorry, we must have mistaken you for somebody else." She bowed slightly, waiting for Ichigo to apologize as well. When he said nothing, she stomped on his foot.

"Ah! Y-yeah, sorry...about that..."

Ichimaru smiled, giving Rukia the chills. "It's not a problem. Bye bye now." Leaving the gawking Ichigo behind, Ichimaru strolled out of the store. Once he was out of sight, he ran.

"Of course. Had ta notice me. Though, I suppose it was a bit humorous." He chuckled to himself when he thought about how incredibly confused Ichigo and Rukia were. It was certainly going to mess with their minds. It actually made the trip worth it.

--meanwhile--

Feeding the Espada was proving to be quite a task. It wasn't quite as smoothly as Tousen would have wished for. Grimmjow had refused to eat what was served to him, preferring to hunt on his own. Getting down on all fours like a cat, he chased down whatever Hollow he could, pouncing on them and biting their necks before devouring them. Szayel seemed more interesting in taking his food apart than he did eating it, Barragan had demanded he get only the tastiest Hollow brought to him, Noitora was enjoying the tortured cries of the Hollow before he ate them, and Yammy was playing (though, from the Hollow's point of view, it was more like torture) with his food instead of eating it. Just when Tousen thought it couldn't get any more chaotic, Yammy decided to throw a small bug-like Hollow at Zommari.

"You shouldn't waste food!" Zommari yelled as Yammy laughed and threw another one, this time hitting Aaroniero. Angry, Aaroniero tossed a small Hollow right back at Yammy. Halibel, Szayel and Ulquiorra tried to ignore the food fight and stick to their own meals, at least until Halibel was whacked in the head by a rather heavy Hollow that Noitora had thrown. Slamming her hands on the table, the sole female Espada hopped off of her chair and marched over to Noitora. Before he knew what was going on, Halibel had him pinned to the ground and in a headlock.

"Ow! Get the hell off of me!" Noitora yelled, struggling beneath Halibel.

"Apologize for hitting me."

"You should have moved!" Noitora spat, only to have his arm pulled backwards. "Ow! That friggin' hurts!"

"Then apologize." Halibel responded calmly, not releasing her grip on Noitora.

Noitora growled. "You're just a girl! I don't have to say nothin' to you!"

"Children!" Tousen's voice boomed, bringing all the chaos in the kitchen to a screeching halt. The children's eyes all turned to him, surprised at the normally quiet adult's outburst.

Having caught their attention, Tousen lowered his voice. "That's better. Now, I want you all sitting back in your seats to finish your meals. No more throwing food around. When you are done eating, I'd like you to clean up the messes you made."

The Espada did as they were told, finishing up their meals in a more civilized way. As they had just finished cleaning, Ichimaru stepped into the kitchen.

"I set up all the toys in the room." He glanced around at the room, watching Grimmjow mumble as he cleaned up the remains of a crushed Hollow. "Wow. Ya even got 'em to clean?"

Tousen nodded. "They created the mess, thus they must clean it. Well, not that all of that is taken care of..." He clapped his hands together to get the Espadas' attention. "We are going back, everyone please get in line. Now, since Zommari was being so well behaved, he gets to be in the front this time."

With some grumbling from other children, Zommari took up the first position in line. He stood straight and proper, trying to set an example for the other children. The rest got into line with less complaint than the previous times and followed Tousen out of the room. About halfway to the play room, Stark stopped walking, sat on the ground, and fell asleep. Ichimaru, who had been following behind the line, kneeled down beside the Espada.

"Stark? Hey, Stark. What are ya doin' fallin' asleep in the middle of the hall? Are you listenin'? Get up!" The Shinigami poked and gently shook Stark, but to no avail. "Ah, Kaname, I think we have a problem."

Tousen turned to face Ichimaru. "Hm?"

"Stark fell asleep an' won't get up."

Tousen sighed. "Can you pick him up then and carry him to the room?"

Ichimaru frowned. He didn't particularly want to carry the kid, but felt he had no choice and lifted Stark off the ground. Had Stark been awake, he probably would have been complaining about the uncomfortable way he was being held, as Ichimaru tried to keep the Espada as far away from his body as he could while still holding him, as if the child had some sort of disease. When Stark began drooling on him, he was ready to drop the kid right where he was and walk away. "Ew."

When they arrived at the play room, Ichimaru was all too willing to put Stark down on a mat in the corner of the room and let him sleep. The rest of the Esapda took a moment to gawk at the toys, then ran off to play with them.

"Sounds to me like you did a pretty good job." Rousen said, smiling at the sounds of the happy children.

Ichimaru shrugged. "I just picked out stuff any kid would like."

Szayel had taken an immediate liking to a toy chemistry set. After looking through it, he discovered he needed water in order to use it. He approached Ichimaru, holding the instruction booklet up for the Shinigami to take. "I need water."

Looking over the instructions, Ichimaru sighed. "Alright. Hold on, I'll be right back." Exiting the room, he headed back to the kitchen. Without having to herd the brats, it was much faster. After filling a large bowl with water, he headed back to the play room. He thought back to the fact that there was no water to be found in all of Hueco Mundo, and inspected the water in the bowl. It certainly _looked_ like water and had the consistency of water. Aizen once offered to tell him how it was the tea was made. Ichimaru shuddered. He had a feeling that he was far better off not knowing where their water came from. There were some things one was better off not knowing, and this was one of them.

When he returned with the water, Szayel was patiently waiting, guarding his toy chemistry set from anybody who dared try to mess it up. He kneeled down to place the bowl on the ground for the pink-haired scientist, and almost dropped the bowl as he glanced over at Yammy.

"Yammy! No! Don't put that over your head!" Quickly placing the bowl down, he rushed over to the large five-year-old, who was walking around with a plastic bag over his head. Ichimaru thought for sure he Esapda was about to suffocate himself, but luckily he pulled the bag from Yammy before anything could happen. "Tousen! You're supposed ta be payin' attention!"

Tousen frowned. "I'm sorry. I didn't...realize."

Ichimaru then remembered that his comrade was blind and couldn't have seen Yammy running around with the bag. "Ah...right. Sorry 'bout that. I guess that means I gotta keep an eye on 'em all."

In one corner of the room, Ulquiorra was busying himself by building towers with Legos. Halibel was helping, though the two were not talking nor interacting in any other way. Szayel had let Aaroniero use his chemistry set with him, the two pouring colored powders in different plastic beakers and mixing colors. While the children were playing, Barragan dragged a large chair to the center of the room. With some effort, he climbed on the seat, sat down, and began commanding Espada to get him various toys.

"Noitora!" He yelled, pointing to the Hot Wheels cars the 5th Espada was playing with. "Bring me some of those!"

Noitora raised his eyebrows. "Hell no! You can get them by yourself!"

Grumbling to himself, he turned his attention to Halibel and Ulquiorra. "Build me a castle with those. I'm the king, and I need a huge fort!"

The two looked up at him, but said nothing and went back to building. Convinced that they were building his castle, or that he would simply claim it once it was fully built, Barragan set his sights on Yammy.

Grimmjow glanced over to Ulquiorra and Halibel. Several lego towers formed what looked like a mini city. Grimmjow grinned to himself. Acting casual, he walked over to the two, his hands behind his back. Ulquiorra looked at him suspiciously, but Grimmjow just smiled and looked back at the Legos.

"What a nice city you made. It's perfect...to destroy!" Without any more warning, Grimmjow pulled the Godzilla figure out from behind his back and proceeded to knock down the Lego towers. "Roar!" After he knocked down all of the Legos, made his Godzilla figure stomp on one of them, wrecking it further until it was in several pieces. He stood back, admired his work, and laughed.

Ulquiorra looked at the destroyed Lego towers, then at Grimmjow. He held out his hand as if he were pointing, and a small, green light emanated from his fingertip. Before Grimmjow realized what was going on, Ulquiorra unleashed a small but powerful Cero. The attack sent little Grimmjow flying across the room and into the opposing wall. The blast caught everyone's attention. Yammy got scared and began crying, and Ichimaru looked over at Grimmjow, horrified. The Shinigami went to help him, but Grimmjow got up and rushed at Ulquiorra, knocking him to the ground and punching him in the face. Halibel tapped Grimmjow in his shoulder, getting his attention. As he turned to her, she punched him in the face, knocking him off of Ulquiorra.

Before anything else happened, Ichimaru and Tousen were between the fighting Espada, Ichimaru holding Grimmjow back while Tousen kneeled by Ulquiorra and Halibel.

"Stop strugglin' and stay still!" Ichimaru yelled at Grimmjow, getting the Espada to settle down.

"He attacked me!"

"You should have come to us." Tousen scolded. "Two wrongs do not make a right. All three of you will be punished for this."

"Uh, Tousen?" Ichimaru interrupted. "Ulquiorra's nose is broken."

Tousen frowned. "Are there other injuries?"

Ichimaru looked Grimmjow over. Surprisingly, there didn't seem to be much wrong with him. Then again, he was an Espada. They could all take quite a beating before being any serious injuries. Halibel's punch looked like it had left the worst mark. "He's just got a few bruises, but I think his cheek is getting swollen. I'm surprised he didn't hit his head."

"Then I'll take Ulquiorra to get his nose fixed up. Grimmjow, you stand in the corner opposite of Halibel. Ichimaru, I'll be ba-"

"Is something the matter?" Aizen's voice suddenly cut in. Everyone turned to see him standing in the doorway, Wonderwice at his side.

"Ah, A-Aizen!" Ichimaru blurted. "Well...ya see...uh...the kids got into a little fight. Ulquiorra hit Grimmjow with a Cero, then Grimmow punched Ulquiorra in the face and broke his nose, then Halibel hit Grimmjow."

"I see." It was silent for a moment before Aizen spoke again. "Let me take care of Grimmjow and Ulquiorra. Kaname, Wonderwice came up to me apparently looking for you."

"Haaaaooo!" Wonderwice happily ran up to Tousen and began nuzzling him like a cat. Tousen smiled and patted him on the head.

"I'm sorry, Wonderwice, I have been busy. We had a bit of an...accident. Would you like to play with the Espada?"

"Haaaah! Haaaooo!" Wonderwice nodded excitedly.

"Zommari?" Tousen asked, getting the child's attention. "Would you like to play with Wonderwice?"

Zommari nodded. "He seems good. I'll play with him."

At that moment, Stark chose to get up, having been awoken due to the fight. He walked over to Zommari and Wonderwice, asking if he could play. The two nodded, and the three of them were soon sitting on the ground, forming a triangle and rolling a ball back and forth to each other. The rest of the Espada had gone about their playing. Szayel was now trying to get Noitora to drink some of the concoctions he had mixed up with Aaroneiro. Tousen, meanwhile, went to comfort Yammy. When the Espada finally stopped crying, he joined Stark, Wonderwice, and Zommari in their game. After Ulquiorra and Grimmjow had been healed, they were each sent to a separate corner as punishment. Barragan decided to take the Legos and build his own castle since he now had nobody to build it for him.

"Well, they are quite a handful." Ichimaru sighed as he watched the children play.

Tousen nodded. "I think even you will be a child expert by the time this is done."

Ichimaru gave a nervous chuckle. "That's provided that we don't lose our minds first.

"Now now." Aizen jumped in, "I think you two are doing a good job. Ten little Espada aren't easy to care for. Well, I have more work to do. Keep doing as you are."

Ichimaru grumbled as Aizen left the room, "What could he possibly have to do that he can't help out."

Pulling up a chair, Tousen took a seat. "Well, I guess can let them play for a little while longer. Then perhaps they will be ready to go to bed for the night. It is getting late."

With any luck, all the playing would tire the children out, and they would be asleep for the night. If they were really lucky, they would all be back to normal by the morning. "I sure hope so..."


	4. Bath Time

_Author's Note: Well, with classes back in session, I'm not sure how often updates will come. If it does take me a while to update, please, bear with me. I have every intention of finishing, mostly due to all the wonderful feedback I've gotten on this story. I do tend to write during breaks and between classes though, so it might not delay updates all that much. With that said, enjoy!_

* * *

After a good fifteen minutes, Grimmjow, Ulquiorra, and Halibel were given permission to leave their respective corners and resume playing. By this time, the Legos were being used by Stark, Wonderwice, and Zommari. Halibel decided to instead play with the Hot Wheels cars, which Noitora was still using along with some action figures.

"Hey, you can't play with cars!" Noitora said as Halibel reached for one of the toy cars. "Cars are for boys, and you are a girl!"

Halibel said nothing, but glared at the skinny Espada. For a few seconds, the two were locked in a glaring contest, and Ichimaru feared that another fight would break out. His fears were assuaged, however, when Noitora backed down and let Halibel play.

Meanwhile, Grimmjow had chosen to play with a set of dolls. Noitora threw him a few strange looks, wondering why in Hueco Mundo somebody like Grimmjow would play with dolls.

"You can never defeat me!" Grimmjow gave the male doll with unusually orange, spiky hair a slightly high-pitched voice.

"Hah hah! That's what you think!" His blue-haired doll had a deeper, tougher voice.

"Oh, save me! Help!" Grimmjow gave the female doll as high of a pitch as his voice could manage without straining himself.

The Espada then returned to the orange-haired doll, "Don't worry, I will win!"

The two males were then made to battle, the blue-haired one clearly having the upper hand as he easily knocked around his opponent. The battle lasted about thirty seconds, until the doll with orange hair was laying face up on the ground with the blue-haired male standing on top of him.

"Hah hah hah! I am King!"

A sudden intruder knocked down the victorious doll.

"No, _I _am King!" Barragan exclaimed, his doll standing over Grimmjow's fallen two.

Grimmjow growled, "Are not! I am! I won fair and square! You cheated!"

Noitora, who had been watching the whole thing, scoffed. "It doesn't matter if you played fair or not. Barragan beat your guy, so you lose!"

"That's not right!" Grimmjow said angrily, crossing his arms. "You don't sneak on somebody, you fight them at an equal level!"

Before another fight could break out, Ichimaru was between the bickering children. "I think it's 'bout time we all get ready for bed. It's gettin' late." Noitora stuck his long tongue out at Grimmjow, only to receive a "stop that" look from Ichimaru and back down.

"Yes, I think it is time to get ready for bed." Tousen said, standing up from his chair.

Naturally, Stark had no ojection, and promptly dropped what he was doing to go stand by Tousen. Zommari did the same, followed by a happy Wonderwice. Soon, all of the Espada were lined up and ready to go to their rooms.

"What're we gonna do? Walk 'em each to their rooms an' make sure they get ready?" Ichimaru asked, not really wanting to put each individual Espada to bed.

Yammy jumped up and down excitedly, raising his hand in the air. "Can we hear a bedtime story?"

Tousen thought for a moment. "Does anyone else want to hear a bedtime story?"

"Haaaaoooo!" Wonderwice eagerly raised his hand. Tousen chuckled. Wonderwice always did like Tousen's bedtime stories. The rest of the Espada either nodded in agreement, shrugged, or simply said nothing. With no protests, Tousen decided that he would tell them all a bedtime story. First, however, they all needed a bath.

"Ichimaru, could you find Aizen and ask if he would help us bathe the children?"

Ichimaru looked as if he'd just been asked to commit seppuku. "Can't we just send 'em off ta bed?"

Tousen shook his head. "We have to take care of them."

"They can bathe themselves when they return to normal!" The light-skinned Shinigami protested.

"We don't know how long that will take. Let me put it this way: do you want to deal with dirty children?"

Ichimaru sighed in defeat. "Fine. I'll go find Aizen." With that, Ichimaru left Tousen to get everything ready while he attempted to enlist Aizen's aid. He doubted Aizen would help, seeing as he had yet to do anything other than tell Tousen and Ichimaru to keep up their good work, but it was worth a shot.

Ichimaru hadn't quite found Aizen before Aizen found him.

"Hello, Gin. How are things going?"

"Ah, I actually wanted to ask ya something. Tousen would like ta know if you'd help bathe the Espada."

Much to Ichimaru's surprise, Aizen nodded. "Yes, I imagine it will be difficult for just the two of you."

Ichimaru grinned. It was about time something good happened!

When Aizen and Ichimaru made their way back to the Espada's playroom, Tousen was trying to keep the very impatient Espada waiting just a little while longer.

Before anybody could say anything, a small, female Arrancar hopped into the room. "I'm here!"

"Ah, Lilinette. Are the others coming?" Aizen asked, ignoring the confused look on Ichimaru's face.

Stark's fraccion nodded. "So, what did you need us for?"

At her question, Aizen motioned to the ten young Espada, some of whom looked like they were going to take off any moment. Lilinett's eyes widened.

"Oh...my...goodness! They are so cute!" In the blink of an eye, she was lifting an annoyed Stark into the air. "Awww, little Starky! You are just _too_ cute!" She didn't even bother to question what was going on, just accepting what she saw and giggling over the five-year-old Espada.

"M-M-Master Noitora?!"

Tesla stood in the doorway, looking absolutely horrified at the scene before him. "Master Noitora! What happened? Why are you- oh no. No, no, no." The fifth Espada's fraccion shook his head in disbelief. "How did this happen? Master Noitora...I'm sorry, I wasn't there to help you, and now..." He fell to his knees, burying his face in his hands. "Master Noitora, if you wish it, I will gladly commit seppuku for failing you!"

Noitora raised an eyebrow at the over-dramatic Tesla. "What the hell are you talking about? What's seppuku?"

"Tesla, if you wish to help Noitora," Aizen cut in, grabbing the fraccion's attention, "then you should care for him until he returns to his adult form."

Tesla nodded. "Yes, of course. I'll do anything you need me to, Master Noitora."

Noitora grinned mischievously, clearly happy with the idea of having somebody to wait on his every whim.

Ichimaru turned to Aizen. "Did you call all of the fraccion?"

"I called the ones that would be fit for the task of caring for the Espada. Gin, I would like you to take care of Aaroniero. Kaname, please take care of Yammy. I'll take care of Zommari."

"What about Szayel?" Ichimaru asked. The scientist's fraccion were certainly not suitable for caring for a child.

"I have asked Ilforte to take care of him. Loli and Menoly are also going to take care of Ulquiorra."

By this time, all of the fraccion had taken their respective masters to their rooms where they could bathe and get ready for bed. Lilinette happily carried Stark away, Tousen managed to get Yammy to follow him, Zommari followed Aizen without question, Ichimaru had no trouble getting Aaroniero to go with him, Loli and Menoly took Ulquiorra to his room, Szayel followed his brother, Shawlong took care of Grimmjow, Halibel was escorted by Apache, Mila-Rose and Sun Sun, Findor carried Barragan away via piggyback after Barragan protested about not being carried away like a noble, and Tesla still acted as more of a subordinate than a caretaker to Noitora.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Lilinette laughed, ignoring the annoyed look on Stark's face. When they arrived at his room, Lilinette searched around for bath supplies. Finding a clean towel was near impossible, but eventually she found one stuffed in the corner of the closet that looked and smelled clean. She went through several empty bottles before finding any still containing shampoo, conditioner or soap. Having found bath supplies, Lilinette began filling up Stark's bathtub. She had wanted to give him a bubble bath, but there was no bubble solution around, seeing as, normally, Stark was a grown man.

Stark looked at the water as the tub filled, then turned to Lilinette. "Can't I just go to bed?"

"No, you need to get clean first. Now undress so we can get you washed up."

The Espada frowned. "I can wash myself."

Lilinette shook her head. "You won't do it right. I know you, you will just get yourself wet and say you cleaned up. Besides, it will be fun!"

Knowing he had no choice, Stark slipped out of his uniform. No sooner had he gotten undressed than Lilinette plopped him in the tub. After pouring some shampoo in her small hand, Lilinette began working it into a lather in Stark's hair. Something bumped into Stark's arm that wasn't the girl cleaning him. Moving his arm so he could see, Stark realized Lilinette had put three rubber ducks into the bathtub, presumably for him to play with. Seeing as he had nothing else to do while he was being washed, he pushed the ducks through the water, which made Lilinette giggle. Stark wondered if anybody else had to get washed by an adult.

--

"Hey, Tesla, what's taking so long?!" Young Noitra asked as his assigned guardian scurried about looking for bath supplies.

"The bottle of conditioner is empty, Master Noitora."

"So get me more. I need some of that stuff if I want my hair nice." Noitora had long hair, and without conditioner, it was a pain to take care of. Besides, he liked how it felt when it was soft.

Tesla bowed his head. "Yes, right away!"

While Tesla ran off to get another bottle of conditioner, Noitora turned on the water, trying to adjust it to the right temperature. Too cold. Too hot. Still too hot. Now it's too cold. "Forget it! Tesla can do it for me!" Noitora yelled, giving up on trying to find the right water temperature.

"Master Noitora, I found some!" Tesla's voice rang out before he stepped into the room, waving a bottle of conditioner.

Noitora grinned. "Good. Now, fix the water for me."

Getting down on his knees, Tesla turned the two knobs, adjusting the water temperature until it was lukewarm and comfortable. "How is that?"

The Espada stuck his bony hand under the stream of water coming from the faucet. "Good. Now let me bathe alone. Wait outside the door in case I need you again."

With a silent nod, Tesla got back to his feet and left the room for Noitora to bathe. In the meantime, he busied himself by cleaning up Noitora's room.

--

After Halibel's bath, her three fraccion sat her down and got her ready for bed. Sun-sun was brushing Halibel's hair while Apache cleaned up

"What scent should we use?" Mila-Rose asked the other two fraccion, looking through bottles of lotion.

"It doesn't matter, just grab one." Apache said, draining the bathtub of it's dirty water. "She's just going to bed, we don't need her to smell pretty."

"And why not? What's wrong with smelling good?"

Apache sighed. "There's nothing wrong with it, but she is going to go to sleep. Nobody is going to smell it."

"She's going to smell it!"

"She is going to be asleep!"

"She'll smell it before she falls asleep!"

"Will you two cut it out?!" Sun-sun snapped, stopping the two in the middle of their argument. "All we need is to keep her skin soft, not for her to smell like a bed of roses. Now just give her a lotion so she can put it on and we can bring her back to Tousen."

--

Ironically enough, Tousen was the last one to arrive in the room Aizen had chosen for the Espada to sit in while Tousen told his story. It was all set up for them to sleep in, since the goal was to lull them to sleep. Plus, it would be easier to keep track of them all in one room.

Ichimaru tried to hold back laughter as Tousen walked in with Yammy, his hair and clothes wet.

"I thought you were supposed ta give Yammy a bath, not take one yourself."

"He wouldn't stop splashing." Tousen sighed.

With the rest of the children already settled into the makeshift beds (which consisted of blankets on the floor for them to lay on, blankets for them to cover up with, and a pillow each) Yammy headed over to the last available spot. Stark was already half asleep, clutching the teddy bear Lilinette had provided him with. Ilforte had made sure to get Szayel his favorite pink blanket and matching pillow. Oddly enough, two small teddy bear ears were poking out from under Ulquiorra's blanket. Grimmjow spotted them, and went to say something, but abruptly turned away when Ulquiorra's eyes fell to the bulge under the blankets in Grimmjow's arms.

"It's just the blankets!" Grimmjow said without any accusation from Ulquiorra.

The fourth Espada said nothing and turned his attention back to Tousen as the Shinigami cleared his throat, signaling for the children to quiet down, and began his story.

* * *

_Author's Note: I know I only talked about some of the Espada's bath adventures, but I think you'd agree that talking about 10 separate bathing sessions would be repetitive and boring, so I only included the few I thought would be most interesting. Next chapter, Tousen will begin his bedtime story.  
_


	5. Bedtime Stories and Spy Work

"Once upon a time," Tousen began his bedtime story with the typical opening of any fairy tale, "there was a land that was said to be a wonderful place. There, everybody was supposed to be happy. However, that wasn't quite how things were. The land wasn't as wonderful as everybody pretended it was. There were people who were not happy, and things didn't always go the way they should have. The ones in charge did not pay attention to the people who asked for help."

"Why didn't they listen?" Zommari asked.

"Because they didn't want to think there were any problems with their land. They thought that if they ignored it, it would simply go away on its own." Tousen answered.

Zommari frowned. "That is not nice."

"Why isn't it?" Noitora asked. "They shouldn't have to help everybody else."

"But that is mean. Nice people help each other."

"Zommari is right." Tousen cut in. "In order to have a happy world, people must help each other. One man knew this, and he set out to make the land happy."

"How did he do that?" Yammy interrupted.

Aaroneiro turned to Yammy. "He is going to tell us! Just be quiet!"

As the children stopped talking, Tousen began again. "Now, this man gathered ten followers. These followers promised to stay with him until they fixed the problems of the land. Each of them were very different, but all very important. One day, they went to speak with the king of the land. The king, however, would not listen to them. It was then they decided they had to do something themselves. When the man looked at the people who needed help, he knew he had to do something. He decided to become the king himself."

The story was interrupted by a loud snore. Already fast asleep was Stark, hugging his teddy bear and drooling on his pillow. It was no surprise that Stark was the first to fall asleep, but Tousen hoped that the other children would settle down and try to go to sleep themselves.

Noitora turned his attention away from the sleeping Stark and back to Tousen. "What happened?"

"It was a very long time before he was able to do anything. Many people did not agree with him, and didn't want him and his followers to take over."

"Why?" Grimmjow asked.

Tousen slowly shook his head. "That is something the man did not know. He did not understand why the king and those who served him did not try to fix things themselves. He did not know how the king could ignore the people who needed help."

"So did the man get to be the king?" Barragan wondered.

"He did. After a long time, the man finally became King. He fixed the problems with the land, and helped the people who needed it. Soon, everyone loved him. He continued to rule, and everybody lived happy ever after."

"Yay!" Yammy said, smiling at the happy ending. Wonderwice clapped.

"Now, children, it is time for you all to sleep." Tousen stood up from his chair and turned to Ichimaru, who was nodding off to sleep in his own chair. "Ichimaru? Ichimaru?"

The silver-haired Shinigami snapped up at the second mention of his name. "Huh? Wha? Yeah."

"The story is over."

"Ah. Right. 'Course. Aizen said he wanted ta see us in the meetin' room after you were done."

Tousen nodded. "Alright." Before he flicked off the lights, he turned to the Espada. "I want everyone to go to sleep now, no playing around. Goodnight."

Wonderwice got up and followed Tousen just before the room was plunged in darkness. The Arrancar and the two Shinigami headed for the meeting room, where Aizen and the fraccion were waiting. Once there, they all took their respective seats. Tousen offered to let Wonderwice sit on his chair, but the Arrancar stayed where he was on the floor a few feet back from Tousen's chair, letting the Shinigami sit instead. When everyone was finally seated, Aizen began.

"As you may or may not already know, the current condition of the Espada was caused by one of Szayel's experiments. However, I am not sure what happened or what Szayel was experimenting on. When we arrived, it appeared Yammy had somehow interrupted with Szayel's experiment and something went very wrong." A few of the fraccion shook their heads or rolled their eyes at the mention of Yammy, and a few others gave the same reaction to Szayel. Aizen continued, "We do not know how long this will last. They could be back to normal by morning, or they may remain in their child forms for a week or longer."

"A week?!" Tesla blurted out, getting to his feet. As Aizen looked to him, he slowly took his seat, embarrassed.

"Yes, it could possibly take that long. As I said, we don't know how long this would take, or even if there is a way we can cure it. Now, with that being said, Ilforte," Aizen turned to Szayel's older brother, "I would like you to investigate Szayel's lab and try to figure out what he was working on. Perhaps then it will be possible to estimate when they will resume their normal form and maybe even a cure. While you do that, the rest of us shall continue our meeting."

Ilforte bowed his head slightly, got up, and left without a word. When he was out of earshot, he sighed. "Szayel and his experiments. Great job, bro. I've always wanted to take care of a 5-year-old mad scientist. So glad I can finally realize my lifelong dream." Ilforte had considered himself lucky to be serving under Grimmjow rather than Szayel. He couldn't stand his younger brother constantly experimenting. Everything was science to him. He lacked strength, and always believed that brains and strategy were more important. He was a perfectionist. He analyzed things until he knew every detail. Every plan had to be devoid of any holes. It was quite annoying. Ilforte was surprised Szayel hadn't snuck into his room in the middle of the night and tried experimenting on him.

Arriving at Szayel's room, Ilforte stopped in front of the door. He was a bit hesitant to go inside. Who knew what the eighth Espada had creeping around his lab? Still, orders were orders, and Ilforte had no choice. His room was normal enough, other than the solid steel door that led to his laboratory. The blond Arrancar approached the door only to discover it was locked by a retinal scanner. Great, now how was he supposed to get in? They were brothers, but they certainly weren't identical, so there was no fooling the scanner. He wondered if he could force it open. It looked pretty strong, but maybe he could break the lock. Ilforte quickly realized that wouldn't work, seeing as it was most likely strong enough to guard against Yammy. Szayel didn't really like anybody, but he particularly despised Yammy. He knew he couldn't just grab the little dweeb, make him grant him access and then lock him out. Even if he was a kid, Szayel wouldn't allow it, and Aizen wouldn't allow Ilforte to mistreat Szayel. Besides, when Szayel returned to his adult form, he would surely strap Ilforte down to one of his experiment tables for that.

Having no way to get in, the Arrancar turned around to go back and tell Aizen what was going on. No sooner had he reached the doorway than had the person he was looking for appear in front of him.

"Did you find a way in, Ilforte?"

"No. He's got it all locked up with a retinal scanner."

"I see. I forgot to tell you that when I sent you." Aizen stepped passed Ilforte and up to the door to the lab. Leaning down, he looked into the scanner. A red light scanned his eye and beeped. The lock clicked open. "That should do it. I'll be returning to the others now. I hope you will come back with results." With that, Aizen was gone just as quickly as he had come.

Ilforte stared at the door for a moment. He figured nobody but Szayel would be allowed in. Then again, Aizen was the king here, so of course he would have to be allowed in. Why Aizen couldn't just look himself, Ilforte didn't know, but he proceeded through the doorway and into the lab.

It was immediately apparent where the accident had occurred. Everything else in the place was tidy and organized, all except for the shattered test tubes and beakers. One spot on the floor was discolored, as if a liquid had dried there and stained the spot.

All in all, the place bored Ilforte. Even if he did find something, it wasn't as if Szayel would have just written the solution down, and he would most likely be the only one to understand it anyway. Whatever. He just had to find something to report back with. Ilforte began his search with the most obvious spot: the spot of the accident. He stepped carefully, making sure not to come in contact with any of the chemicals. Sprouting a tentacle arm, an extra eye and a tail wasn't a very appealing idea.

The table looked as if Wonderwice and Yammy had gotten together to experiment. Whatever Szayel had been working on was certainly lost now. All of the containers had been broken and all their contents spilled all over the place. A large hole had burned through the middle of the table where two chemicals had mixed, a sickly looking green goo dripping from the edges of the hole and forming a puddle on the floor. It looked like the mixed chemicals were burning through the floor as well, as the puddle was sitting in a crater. Off to the side of the desk were several sheets of paper. Ilforte tiptoed around the shattered glass littering the area to get to the other side of the table. He carefully lifted a sheet of paper by its corner, pinching it between his thumb and index finger and holding it as far from his face as he could while still being able to read it. The lower right section of the paper was rendered illegible due to whatever liquid it had absorbed. What could be read looked like some sort of chemical equation. In other words, total gibberish as far as the blond Grantz brother was concerned.

Setting that paper aside, he picked up the next one in the same fashion he had lifted the prior one in. Some of this, too, could not be read. It appeared to be just a collection of ideas. Simple thoughts were scratched down, though even these were jotted down with some sort of order. Whereas most people scribbled down general ideas then formed them properly later, even Szayel's ideas were written in complete sentences with proper structure. Ilforte would hate having to read some scientific journal his brother wrote. At least he could get the gist of what was in front of him.

Apparently, Szayel was studying something about child-like Arrancar, and creating ones that would have greater potential than any of the current members. Ones that would make Aizen truly proud. It would probably score Szayel the top spot on Aizen's Most Valuable People list. Though, knowing his brother, the mad scientist was probably doing it first and foremost for himself. Being Aizen's favorite would just be a perk that came with it. He didn't want to think about what Szayel would do if he was ever placed in a high power.

Well, at least he knew what Szayel was trying to do. Now the question was how to reverse it, or if it would wear off on its own. Ilforte had a feeling that would take a while to figure out, and it wasn't something he particularly felt like researching, especially on his own. He had enough information to give Aizen, maybe he would know what to do. After all, Aizen knew Szayel just as much as he did. Or, at least, he should since he was the one in command.

Grabbing the stained sheets of paper, Ilforte made his way back out of the lab. He didn't make it very far, however, until he slipped on spilled liquid and landed in a puddle, the papers flying out of his hand and landing beside him. As soon as he realized he had landed in one of Szayel's crazy concoctions, Ilforte panicked. The liquid was already burning through his shoes. Scrambling out of the puddle, he quickly pulled off his shoes, followed by his pants. For safe measure, he yanked off his shirt as well. He sat on the ground, away from the puddle, staring at the pile of clothes. He was glad he had gotten them off when he did, lest he would have acid burning through his skin, but now he was left naked and having to report to Aizen. And, to put the icing on the cake, the papers had been completely destroyed by the liquid. Great, now what was he going to show Aizen?

Ilforte sighed and got to his feet. Well, he could just tell Aizen what he had read and that the papers were soaked and he didn't want to pick them up. Yes, that sounded good. Now, he would just have to sneak back to his room and get dressed before reporting back to Aizen.

The older Grantz slipped out of his brother's lab, hoping not to be seen. He quickly headed to his room. As he got closer, he started to relax. He was going to make it, and nobody would ever kno-

Ilforte stopped short as he almost ran right into somebody. Standing before him was Aizen. He looked at Ilforte for a moment .

"Ilforte, why are you nude?"

"Uh...well...you see...I kinda...slipped." the blond stammered.

"Slipped?"

"Y-yeah. Um...there was liquid spilled all over the floor...and...well...I slipped on it, and it was burning right through my clothes...so I had to...take them...off..." Ilforte mumbled as he stared at the ground, not wanting to look Aizen in the eye.

"I see. Hurry and get dressed then, I expect a report."

Ilforte nodded slightly. "Yes, Lord Aizen." Without looking back, he ran down the hall and to his own room, locking the door behind him. The Arrancar had never been more embarrassed in his life.

After clothing himself, Ilforte had returned to the meeting room. All the Arrancar had already left, leaving only Aizen, Ichimaru and Tousen. Still not looking at Aizen, Ilforte took a seat.

"Now, what did you find?" Aizen asked.

"Well, there were a couple papers in his lab near where the accident occurred. I couldn't read most of it because some liquids had gotten on them, but I was able to make out some of it. Apparently, he was trying researching something about making children Arrancar."

"Children Arrancar? Where are these papers?"

Ilforte went silent.

"Well?"

"I was afraid to pick them up. You know how insane Szayel is, who knows what that liquid could have done to me."

"Is that so?" Aizen was clearly not convinced, but didn't push the matter. "Is that all you found?"

"Yes."

"I believe we will need to have a more thorough investigation at another time. Ilforte, you are dismissed."

The blond quickly got out of his seat and departed.

Ichimaru sighed. "That doesn't help us much. We still don't know how ta get 'em back ta normal."

"Don't worry, Gin. I'm sure this won't last forever. And if it does, we shall simply need new Espada. Now, you and Kaname have been working hard, I think it's time to call it a day. You are both dismissed, we can discuss this further tomorrow."

Ichimaru and Tousen nodded and left the room.

"I sure hope they are better in the mornin'" Ichimaru sighed.

"I hope so as well. They are quite a handful." Tousen said. "But, we will just have to wait and see what the morning brings."

--

The artificial sunlight poured through the windows of Tousen's room. The Shinigami yawned and sat up. Wonderwice turned.

"Haaoooo!"

"Good morning, Wonderwice." Tousen said with a smile.

The Arrancar hopped onto Tousen's bed and gave him a hug. Tousen chuckled. "What do you say we go check on the Espada?"

Wonderwice nodded. "Hao!"

The sight that greeted Tousen was not what he had been expecting. He had guessed the children would either still be sleeping, or jumping wildly around. Instead, he had gotten something completely different. A loud gasp sounded from behind him.

Ichimaru closed his eyes tight and looked again, verifying what he was seeing: an empty room. "The Espada are...gone!"


	6. The Search Begins

It was official: the children were nowhere in Las Noches. They weren't in their rooms, the kitchen, or anywhere in the immediate area of the castle. No other arrancar had seen them all morning. Ichimaru, Tousen, and the fraccion had searched every nook and cranny, but to no avail. Finally, they were forced to approach Aizen on the matter.

Many would agree that Ichimaru was a scary guy, but even he trembled when it came to Aizen. After he had been told that the children were missing, he said nothing. Ichimaru wished he would yell at them instead of giving them silence, but Aizen never yelled. It was his lack of anger that was so nerve-wracking, topped with that small smirk of his, as if he was deviously plotting in his head a cruel torture to bestow upon the Shinigami. Finally, after what felt, to Ichimaru at least, like a never-ending silence, Aizen spoke.

"Missing? Well now, how many places could ten Espada children possibly go on their own?"

"Er..." Ichimaru had no answer.

"Perhaps they somehow managed to escape to the human world?" Tousen half suggested, half asked.

Ichimaru's jaw dropped. "The human world?! How would they have done that?!

"That is a good suggestion, Kaname." Aizen said. "I believe you two should consider that and look into the matter. If you must, then take the fraccion with you."

"Yes, Lord Aizen." Ichimaru and Tousen said in unison.

"How would they have gotten there all on their own?" Ichimaru asked when they were out of earshot of Aizen.

"I'm not sure. Perhaps we should see if we can confirm it before we cross over to the other world and search for them."

Ichimaru thought for a moment. "Ah! What about that little one, Nel? She's always runnin' around outside. Maybe she saw 'em."

"That sounds good. Let's go ask."

The Shinigami made their way outside Las Noches. Since there were few arrancar living out of the palace, it would be rather easy to pock out the small Arrancar's reiatsu. Sure enough, the two soon felt several presences heading their way.

"That must be Nel and her friends." Ichimaru said, taking several steps away from Tousen. "Uh... you might wanna be careful..."

"Careful? What for? She isn't dangerous."

"Actually-" Before Ichimaru could explain, Nel ran head on into Tousen, knocking him over. Ichimaru winced as she was then followed by by her friends Dondochakka and Pesche, who tripped and landed in a pile on top of Tousen.

"Mmmmph! Mmmmph!"

"Uh-oh. I think we squished somebody!" Pesche said.

"I can't get up!" Dondochakka complained, uselessly flailing on the top of the pile.

Ichimaru sighed and pulled Dondochakka off, trying to help Tousen. Though he was successful in getting the Arrancar off of Tousen, Dondochakka had now landed on him, sitting right on Ichimaru's face.

With Dondochakka having been pulled off, Pesche got to his feet, followed by Nel then Tousen.

Pesche gasped. "Dondochakka! Look who you are sitting on!"

"Huh?" Dondochakka looked down at the flailing Ichimaru and, upon realization of who his rear end had landed on, leapt to his feet.

"Are ya tryin' ta kill me?!" Ichimaru yelled stumbling to his feet.

"Wah!" Nel hid behind Pesche. "We are sowwy! Nel didn't mean to wun into you! Pwease fowgive us!"

The three then got down on their knees and bowed repeatedly to the two Shinigami, chanting, "Sorry" and "Please don't hurt us!".

Tousen sighed. "We just came to ask you a question."

The arrancar stopped bowing and looked up at the Shinigami.

"A question?" Nel repeated.

"Yes. Have you seen a group of children about the same size as yourself around?"

Nel jumped to her feet. "Oh! Nel saw them! Nel wanted to ask them to pway Eternal Tag wif us, but dey vanished befowe we could ask."

"Vanished? What do you mean?"

"There was a biiiiiig portal thing dey all stepped thwough!" Nel said while making a large circular motion with her arms. "Then dey were gone!"

Ichimaru made a pouting face as Nel confirmed his fears: the children had made their way to the human world.

"Let's gather the fraccion." Tousen said. "We'll have to leave as soon as possible. I'm afraid to think about what those children could do if we don't find them soon."

Ichimaru nodded and followed Tousen. As his partner gathered the fraccion, he began to daydream about what horrors the children would bestow upon the humans. Since the children wouldn't have gigai, the humans wouldn't be able to see as the Espada caused trouble. It brought a small grin on his face. At least, until he remembered he'd have to find them and bring the brats back.

"Alright, let's go!" Tousen said, bringing Ichimaru back to reality.

With a zipping sound, the portal between worlds opened. The two Shinigami stepped through, followed by the fraccion.

"We're all going to split up. Find the Espada without drawing attention from the humans." Tousen instructed.

"Yes, sir!" All the fraccion said in unison, disappearing in a flash with their Sonido.

"Can't we just let 'em wreak havoc?" Ichimaru asked with a slight grin.

Tousen shook his head. Ichimaru always wanted to cause trouble. "Lord Aizen has commanded us to return them, so that's what we are going to do. Besides, there is no reason to let them torture the citizens here."

"Alright, alright. We'll look for 'em." Ichimaru muttered.

It didn't take long for them to find one of the Espada. A large group of people had gathered in the street around a car. Upon closer inspection, a child lay on the ground in front of the car.

"Oh my god, oh my god. What have I done?! I-I-oh my god!" A man repeated as he stepped out of the car.

"How did this child get into the street?"

"Where was his mother?!"

"Oh, poor thing!"

"How could you hit him?!"

"Wait, he's moving!"

The crowd suddenly got silent as a rather large 5-year-old sat up, moaning and rubbing his head. "That hurt!"

"He's alive?!"

"He's alive!"

"But how? He was hit by a car!"

Ichimaru's eyes looked like they were ready to pop out of his head. He watched as Yammy (who, though still a child, looked slightly different and more human) punched the car, forcing it back slightly. Everyone in the crowd gasped. One woman fainted.

"They-they can see him?!" Ichimaru sputtered.

Had Tousen not been wearing a visor, he would have had much the same look on his face as Ichimaru. He quickly set all questions aside, realizing they had to take action fast before anything else happened. "I'm going to distract them, you grab Yammy! Be sure to cover your ears well!"

The dark-skinned Shinigami unsheathed his sword. He hated having to resort to this, but at the moment, it seemed like the best option. "Cry, Suzumushi." A high-pitched screech emitted from his sword, paralyzing everyone within close enough proximity to Yammy. A moment later, they all fell to the ground, unconscious.

Ichimaru seized the opportunity to grab Yammy, who had, luckily, also passed out. "Alright, let's gather the fraccion and get our Gigai."

-----

Ichigo pulled himself away from the manga he had been reading when he realized nobody else was answering the phone. He had forgotten Yuzu and his father had gone shopping, and Karin was out playing soccer.

"Hello?"

"Ichigo! There are two little kids running rampant in my house!"

The substitute Shinigami heard the shatter of glass in the background, along with a small boy's voice saying, "Hey, catch!"

Another shatter.

"Oops, I missed." A second voice said rather sarcastically.

"Keigo." Ichigo said to his whimpering friend, "learn to control your cousins."

_Click!_

Keigo was ready to have a breakdown as Ichigo hung up on him. He ducked just in time to avoid a light bulb being thrown at his head.

---

Noitora was walking down the sidewalk, looking for somebody else to bother. His last victim had been a little girl at a playground. He'd dropped a few bugs on her head, making her cry, then left before any adults could come.

"Oh my, you poor child!" A woman's voice suddenly said.

"Eh?" Noitora hardly had any time to realize she was talking to him when two plump hands grabbed his shoulders and turned him around. "Hey, don't tou-"

"Oh, dear heavens! No wonder you are wandering away without an adult, your mother must be starving you!"

"I ain't got a mother lady!" The Espada growled, trying to free himself, but to no avail.

The woman gasped. "You poor thing! Here, let Mary feed you. I just went shopping!" With one hand still holding on to Noitora, she grabbed an apple and stuffed it in the child's hand. "Don't be afraid now, I just want to help you. There is plenty more where that came from!"

Noitora looked at the piece of fruit, then tossed it aside. "I don't want your damn weird food!"

Mary gasped again. "Oh, young man, you need to learn manners! Come with me, I shall take proper care of you." She said, grabbing his thin wrist.

"Like hell I'm going with you!"

"Stop using those atrocious words! You must respect your elders!"

"I ain't listenin' to a woman!" The Espada retorted, yanking himself away from the woman.

"You-"

"Excuse me, ma'am?"

Mary turned around to see a dark-skinned man addressing her, a rather pale man standing beside him.

Ichimaru grabbed Noitora away from Mary. "Sorry 'bout him."

Mary stared at the two men as if she suddenly had a dark epiphany. "_Oh!" _She put her hands on her hips. "Why, I ought to call the police on you two, neglecting your child like that!"

"He'll be fine. Trust me, we're takin' good ca-"

"He needs a mother, that's what he needs!"

Tousen didn't seem to understand the implications from the woman. Ichimaru gave a nervous laugh.

"Well, we'll be going now. Come on, Noitora."

"What was she trying to get at?" Tousen asked after they had run around the corner, safe from the woman's condescending glare.

"You don't want to know..." Ichimaru responded.

The two found Tesla, who sighed in relief when he saw that Noitora was okay. It had proved to be a lot harder to find the children since they had all decided to hid their reiatsu, with the exception of Yammy. The good side to that was Ichigo and Rukia wouldn't sense them, and that far outweighed the fact that it would take a little longer to find them.

"Take him back an' keep an eye on him." Ichimaru said, handing the 5th Espada over.

"Tesla!" Noitora scolded as his fraccion ripped open Garganta, "Where have you been? That woman was crazy!"

"Well, Master Noitora, you were hiding, so it was hard to find you."

"Doesn't matter, you should have come sooner! Imagine what she could have done to me!"

"Sorry, Master Noitora, now please just come with me."

"Well that's two down." Tousen said as the rip in the dimensional barrier sealed back up, Tesla and Noitora disappearing behind it.

"Eight more to go." Ichimaru finished Tousen's thought. This was quickly shaping out to be the worst week of his life.


	7. Misunderstanding

Author's Note: I know it's been a long time since I've updated, and I apologize. I've been busy. Final exams and projects were my main concerns, then there was Christmas, and after Christmas...well let's just say Final Fantasy VIII and Halo are very addicting. Not to mention I've started replaying Devil May Cry. But anyway, enjoy the chapter! I'll hopefully be updating a bit more often again if school doesn't get in my way.

* * *

It had been half of an hour since Ichimaru and Tousen had gotten Tesla to bring Noitora back to Las Noches, and the Shinigami hadn't heard or seen anything of the remaining Espada. Ichimaru wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, it meant they weren't running around causing chaos and possibly revealing themselves to Ichigo and company. On the other hand, it made them really difficult to find. Ichimaru was also realizing how much they had been running around, for his stomach let out a rather loud growl.

"Whadda ya say we stop somewhere for lunch?"

Tousen frowned. "But we can't just stop looking for the Espada. The sooner we get them, the better."

"A small break won't kill anybody." He hoped. "Besides, I'm sure your hungry too."

"It's not a big deal, I can wai-" Tousen's stomach gave him away with a grumbling noise that had been even louder than Ichimaru's.

The silver-haired Shinigami grinned. "Told ya. Come on, let's get somethin' ta eat."

Tousen sighed in defeat. "Alright, but just a quick break and then we go right back to looking for them."

Ichimaru led Tousen to a noodle shop that he had seen on his way to the toy store during his last visit to Karakura It was quick and simple meal, so Tousen couldn't complain it would take too long. Ichimaru ordered their food and took a seat at a small table where Tousen was waiting.

"So where do ya think the little brats ran off to?" He asked, putting his elbow on the table and resting his chin on his hand.

Tousen thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. We would have to play it by ear. They are bound to cause some kind of trouble, and word passes quickly. We could also try checking at any nearby nursery. Somebody might have picked one of them up since they are wondering without an adult."

"I hope the fraccion are getting somewhere." Ichimaru felt like he and Tousen had been the ones doing all the work. Though now that he thought about it, the fraccion probably didn't know all that much about the human world. After all, all they had ever known was Hueco Mundo, a far different world than that of the humans. He suddenly realized that they might be getting into just as much trouble as the Espada.

"Here is your order!" A waitress said, snapping Ichimaru out of his thoughts as she put the two bowls of noodles on the table in front of him and Tousen.

"Thank you." Tousen said, grabbing his pair of chopsticks, oblivious to the waitress' staring.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"I think we are all set for now." Ichimaru said.

The waitress wrinkled her nose when Ichimaru answered instead of Tousen, but quickly changed her expression and turned her attention back to Tousen. "Well, if there is anything else you need, don't hesitate to ask." With a wink, she walked away. Ichimaru couldn't help but notice the exaggerated swaying of her hips and rolled his eyes.

"She is still staring at ya." Ichimaru said before dipping his chopsticks into his noodles and taking a bite.

Tousen swallowed a bite with a confused look. "She is staring at me?"

"Yep" Ichimaru responded through a mouthful of food. "She was flirtin' with ya." He explained, realizing Tousen couldn't see the woman's cues. "She didn't look too happy when you didn't respond and I answered her." Ichimaru frowned. Was he really that bad looking that he deserved a disgusted look? He could understand Yammy getting such a look, but him?

"Oh." Was all the other Shinigami said. He knew what flirting was, but, for obvious reasons, couldn't grasp the concept of physical attraction. He never really gave it much thought. Besides, why judge somebody simply on appearance? Shouldn't people always be judged on who they are, not what they look like?

He could remember a time, back when he was young, when he would be picked on for something he didn't understand. It was finally explained to him by his good friend that some people judged others based on their skin. He supposedly had skin that looked different than that of most of the other people around him, and for that reason alone he would be called names and put down. It was something he still couldn't understand, but usually ignored it. Besides, that wasn't anything that was a problem now. Nothing like that had happened for a long time. Though, once he heard Ichimaru being described as having very pale skin. He wasn't sure what that meant, but apparently his wasn't quite the same either.

"So, I guess we'll look in a daycare next?" Ichimaru asked after slurping more noodles.

Tousen nodded. "If we get lucky, we'll run into one of the Espada on the way, or hear about them." He really didn't want to have to find the children because they were causing havoc, but at least eventually they would hear something about them if they couldn't track them down on their own.

When the two were done eating, Ichimaru paid the bill. Tousen had been hoping to avoid the waitress, but she was at their table the moment he took his last bite, as if she had been carefully watching them the whole time (which, as Ichimaru later pointed out, she had). Eventually, the waitress got aggravated with Tousen for not recognizing or returning her advances, and stormed away with the dirty dishes. Ichimaru hadn't helped either; he simply spent the whole time stifling laughter.

Leaving the noodle shop and flirty waitress behind, the two men made their way to the closest Day Care. They had to stop and ask for directions once, which was rather uncomfortable with the very strange look the woman gave them. Ichimaru had told her that they were picking up their children for their wives, which eased the suspicion a bit. In fact, the woman then smiled and walked off mumbling about how more fathers should be involved with their children like that.

As they approached the Day Care, Ichimaru stopped Tousen. "Why don't ya let me go in by myself? If people see us pickin' up the same kid, they might ask questions."

Tousen raised an eyebrow. "Are you worried about what they might think?"

"What? No, of course not! I just don't want there to be more trouble than there has ta be!"

"Okay, fine, you go in, I'll wait here."

Ichimaru grinned. "Good. I'll be back in a minute!"

The younger Shinigami was relieved that Tousen agreed to stay behind. Maybe it was because he didn't see the way people were looking at them when they asked for their kids, but it made Ichimaru uncomfortable. It was hard enough acting like he was actually the father, but when people thought they were both the fathers, then it got really weird. Hopefully nobody in the Day Care would ask questions. He would just go in, find any of the Espada that were in there, and sneak back out, no questions asked.

Much to his pleasure, the receptionist was busy talking with a mother and didn't even notice Ichimaru coming in. Slipping past the front desk, he made his way into the main room where all the children were playing. The workers were busy with the children, one of them trying to calm a child throwing a fit, another putting a band-aid on a little girl's elbow, and a third preparing snacks.

Ichimaru glanced around at all the kids, trying to find any of the Espada among them. At first, it seemed like none of them were there, but just as he was about to leave, he spotted the third Espada sitting in a corner, playing with building blocks by herself. Ichimaru walked over and knelt down beside Halibel. He couldn't help but notice her shirt had been changed to something that covered her stomach, not to mention her face was no longer covered. Luckily, the Espada's gigai didn't have their hollow masks. What a surprise the Day Care would have gotten if they had seen Halibel's mask.

"Ah, here you are, Halibel! Come on, we have ta go."

Halibel looked at Ichimaru, but did make any motion to stand up. Instead, she went back to playing with the blocks.

"C'mon Halibel, I don't have time to play around!" Ichimaru whispered harshly grabbing Halibel by the arm and pulling her up.

It was at this time that one of the workers noticed. She had finished taking care of the injured girl and was now making her way over to Ichimaru.

"Are you this child's father?"

"Ah, uh, yes, I am."

Ichimaru's answer apparently wasn't a good one, as he received a condescending glare.

"This young girl was found all alone outside of the shopping plaza!"

"Uh...well, you see...I had looked away for just a second, and then when I turned back, she was gone."

The woman looked at Ichimaru suspiciously. He wasn't sure why, but for some reason, she didn't seem to trust him. She bent down until she was eye level with Halibel.

"Is this man your father?"

"No." Halibel said simply.

The woman's brown eyes widened. "Does he have any relation to you?"

"No." The Espada answered again.

The woman stood up, now thoroughly convinced that Ichimaru did not belong taking Halibel out of the Day Care. She grabbed his wrist, "You unhand this child at once! Crystal, call the police! This man is the kidnapper that's been on the news!"

Ichimaru's mouth dropped open. "What? No! You don't understand! I'm not-"

"Don't try to play your way out! I know all about you! You pretend to be the father of young girls and take them away! You are a wanted child molester, you filthy monster!"

Realizing he couldn't talk his way out, Ichimaru did the only thing he could think of: run. Yanking his hand away from the woman, he picked up Halibel and took off. The woman was immediately after him. As he passed the front desk, the mother that had been talking to the receptionist also gave chase.

"Tousen! Run!" Ichimaru yelled as he ran out of the Day Care.

The former 9th division Captain stared in disbelief as Ichimaru ran out of the Day Care holding Halibel, two angry women running after him. Unfortunately, he had no choice but to do as Ichimaru said, since the women chasing him now knew that he was with Ichimaru. He didn't know what had happened, but one thing was for sure: he was never letting Ichimaru do anything dealing with the children alone again.

"What in Aizen's name did you do?!" Tousen asked, running beside Ichimaru.

"They think I'm some kinda child molester! Apparently there's one on the loose that everyone knows about and they think he's me!"

"How did you manage that?!"

"It's not my fault, Halibel is the one who said I'm not even related to her!"

Tousen would have complained, but this wasn't exactly the time. One thing was for sure: he had to sort this out before it got even more out of hand. Running was only going to make them look even more guilty when in reality, Ichimaru was not the guy they were looking for. He grabbed Ichimaru's arm, forcing him to stop, and turned to face the two women that were chasing them. The women also stopped, confused.

"I must apologize, I believe there has been some misunderstanding." Tousen said.

"What is this? Don't you try playing games with me!" The Day Care worker yelled.

"If you would please, I can explain. Ichimaru, please let Halibel down."

Ichimaru looked like he wanted to take off again, but did as Tousen said.

Ichimaru bent down to speak with the Espada, "Now Halibel, can you please explain to these nice women? We were told to watch you, correct?"

Halibel nodded. "Yes."

The Day Care worker still wasn't convinced. "You told me he wasn't your father." she said to Halibel.

"He isn't. He is not related to me."

"Ya see, we are friends of her father." Ichimaru said. Which, in a way, was true. Aizen did rule over all of the Espada, and Ichimaru and Tousen were second and third in command, respectively, so really it wasn't a lie. "We were told ta watch her, but like I said earlier, she snuck away when we weren't lookin'" Also the truth. Well, more like she snuck away while they were sleeping, but it all added up to the same thing.

"Is this true?" The woman asked Halibel.

"Yes."

"Then why on earth did you run away and try to sneak her out of the Day Care like that?!" The woman asked, stepping up to Ichimaru.

"Well what did ya want me ta do? Ya wouldn't listen!"

"Well if you hadn't been trying to sneak the poor child out, I wouldn't have had to disbelieve you! Honestly, you should know better, what with that man on the loose!"

Ichimaru was about to retort, but Tousen cut in.

"It's all settled now, no need to argue about it further." Tousen bowed slightly to the woman. "We're very sorry for the trouble. It won't happen again." Ichimaru had a feeling that last statement was meant for him.

The woman sighed. "Alright, but take better care of that child! And for goodness sake, don't let her walk around with such a small shirt as she had on earlier!" With that, she stomped off toward the Day Care, the mother following.

Tousen turned to Ichimaru. "From now on, I shall handle things. Now, let's bring Halibel to her fraccion so they can take her back to Las Noches."

"Ugh, what did they put her in?!" Mila Rose complained at the oversized white t-shirt Halibel had been given. "Look at it, it's stained!"

Sun-Sun held her hand to her nose, "It smells bad too."

Mila Rose grabbed Halibel by her hand. "Well have to get her cleaned up when we get back."

"Let's just hurry up and get out of here, I hate this place." Apache said, opening a portal.

When the three fraccion and Halibel were gone, Ichimaru turned his attention back to Tousen. "Well, only Halibel was at the Day Care, meanin' the others are still out there. What next?"

"Hmmm..." Tousen tried to locate the remaining Espada by their reiatsu. He wasn't sure he'd get any results, but it was worth a try. He froze. He found a spike. "Ichimaru...do you feel that?"

"A spike in reiatsu, a couple of them."

"Let's go."

In an instant, the Shinigami were gone, heading toward a residential area.


	8. Destruction

_Author's Note: Ack! I didn't realize it had been so long since my last update! Sorry! I don't even have a good excuse. T_T And this chapter is kind of short...sorry again, I swear I'll make up for it next time!_

* * *

"P-please put that dow-AH!"

Keigo ducked as an antique vase was thrown at his head, shattering against the wall. Ooooh...his sister was going to kill him for that! That was, if these little brats didn't kill him first. He had no clue where they came from or what they were, all that he knew was that they were not normal human children! After all, normal human children could not break a door down, nor could they lift tables and flip them over. The worst part was that Keigo was powerless to stop them. Of course, Ichigo didn't listen to him when he called to ask for help. Now he had been reduced to cowering in a corner as the two kids terrorized his apartment. His sister was currently out shopping with her friends, and the people upstairs were...well he had no clue where they were, but they clearly couldn't hear what was going on, else they would have come to bang on his door, only to find it was no longer attached to the doorway, and demand to know what was going on.

"Hey, Grimmjow?" one of the voices called from the kitchen.

The blue-haired Espada looked up from the couch he had been tearing at like a cat. "What is it, Aaroniero?"

"Do you know how to work this thing? I know fire is supposed to come out, but I can't get it to work."

Keigo froze. Fire?! Kids weren't supposed to play with fire! He was suddenly on his feet and running to the kitchen. Halfway there, he tripped on the stones that had been in the beta fish's vase (Grimmjow had eaten the fish then thrown the vase onto the floor) and landed flat on his face. This didn't stop him, however, as he quickly scrambled back to his feet and reached the doorway to the kitchen.

The other child, with messy, dark hair and blue eyes, was standing on a chair, staring at the stove, playing with the knobs. The other child walked in, nearly knocking Keigo over on the way. Aaroniero turned to look as Grimmjow stepped over the threshold.

"How do you turn this on?"

"Let me see, move out of the way!" Grimmjow said, standing up on the chair as the other got off. He played with the knobs a bit, hearing a clicking sound when he hit a certain spot.

"Oh no you don't! Get away from there!" Keigo yelled, stomping forward to get the children away from his stove.

Grimmjow didn't even look back. He hopped from the chair to the counter, grabbed the cookie jar, and chucked it at Keigo's head.

This time, Keigo wasn't able to dodge. He fell to the ground, unconscious, as the cookie jar shattered on the floor beside him. Aaroniero picked up one of the chocolate chip cookies and munched on it.

"Hey, these are pretty tasty! Have one!" He said, tossing a cookie to his partner-in-crime.

Grimmjow caught the cookie and took a bite. "You're right, they are good. Put a bunch in a bag so we can take them with us."

While Aaroniero busied himself with finding a bag to put the cookies in, Grimmjow tried the stove again. After a few clicks, it went on. Unfortunately, a bit too much gas had been let out before the Espada got it to work, and the flames burst out. Grimmjow yelped, lost his balance and fell to the ground along with the chair he had been standing on.

"Hey, are you okay? Did you get burned?" Aaroniero asked, spewing cookie crumbs out of his mouth as he talked.

Grimmjow sat up. "I'm fine. I didn't know the fire was gonna do that. Stupid thing." He growled, kicking the stove and denting the oven door. "Let's go, I'm bored here now." He stuffed a cookie in his mouth then began heading for the door, kicking Keigo on his way by and not bothering to turn off the stove.

Aaroniero nodded, grabbed his bag of cookies and walked right over Keigo as if he wasn't there.

The moment the two got outside, they were lifted into the air.

"There ya brats are." Ichimaru said, picking up Grimmjow.

"Hey, let me go!" Grimmjow yelled, struggling to get down. As soon as he was close enough, the Espada kicked Ichimaru in the face, causing the Shinigami to drop him. Unfortunately for him, he didn't get very far before Tousen grabbed the back of his shirt and tugged him back. Aaroneiro was in Tousen's other arm, but decided against mimicking Grimmjow and simply stayed put.

"Why you little-" Ichimaru growled, bringing his hands away from his face to reveal a bloody nose.

Tousen just sighed. "Come on, let's get these two back to Las Noches."

As much as Ichimaru wanted to wring Grimmjow's neck, he resisted. Aizen might be upset with him if he killed one of the Espada. Though, truth be told, he wouldn't mind putting his hands around Aizen's neck either. He hadn't done anything to help them with the Espada-turned-Kindergarteners while making Tousen and Ichimaru do everything. If it wasn't for the fact he wanted to keep on good terms with Aizen, Ichimaru probably would have just left the children to Tousen a while ago.

"We better get somethin' for all this work. It's not our fault Szayel can't stop playin' in his lab and Yammy is an idiot."

"Ah hah! You just called Yammy an idiot! I'm telling him!" Grimmjow said.

Tousen shook his head. "You have to be careful what you say around children. They are very honest and have no problem repeating what they hear somebody say."

"So they are." Ichimaru grumbled. "I hope the fraccion are having some luck. I don't want to have to track down every single on of these kids."

------------------------

Lilinette tried to ignore the whistling behind her as she walked through a shopping plaza. Had these guys never seen a girl before? Sheesh! And these girls, why did they keep giving her such dirty looks? What was wrong with the people of this town?

"Shouldn't you be wearing clothes, little girl?" An older woman said in a sharp tone.

Lilinette glared. "I'm not a little girl. And I _am_ wearing clothes!"

"If you aren't a little girl," a male voice said from behind her, "then what do you say we...hang out tonight."

Lilinette turned to face the guy beside her. He was young, probably about 16, with long dark hair and blue eyes. Before Lilinette even had a chance to retort, the boy's arm slipped around her waist and she felt him grab her behind. A second later, he was on the ground, in pain from being kneed in the groin with more force than he ever thought a girl had. The arrancar spit her tongue out at him before skipping away, not even noticing the looks of surprise following her.

Near the end of the shopping plaza was a rather expensive-looking furniture store. Lilinette stopped to glance inside. The bed on display in the window looked like one of the most comfortable things anybody could ever rest on- the perfect place to find Stark.

The bell on the door rang as Stark's fraccion walked into the furniture store. It didn't take long until her suspicions proved correct. In the back of the store, a middle-aged man was standing by one of the large beds, shaking a sleeping child.

"Stark!" Lilienette yelled, garnering the attention of everyone in the store as she ran over to the bed, picked up the Espada and hugged him. "I had a feeling I'd find you here!"

Stark didn't look nearly as excited as his fraccion. "Did you have to wake me up? I was so comfortable..."

"I have been looking for you! We have to get back right away!"

"Excuse me, Miss?" The man said, tapping Lilinette on the shoulder to get her attention.

"What?"

"Are you this child's mother?"

Lilinette laughed. "No. I'm..." she paused for a moment, trying to think of the right word to use. Telling him that she was his fraccion certainly wasn't going to get her anywhere. "His nanny!"

"You are his nanny...and you let him wander around on his own?"

The arrancar shrugged and turned her attention back to Stark. "You can sleep when we get back home, let's get out of here!" Before the man had a chance to say anything more, Lilinette was out the door and on her way back to Las Noches.

--------------------------

Kurakara Hospital was more busy than usual, with nurses wheeling patients down the corridors as yet more patients were brought in. Ryuken Ishida was running back and forth through the various rooms, checking on patients and giving doctors orders and advice.

"Uryu!" Ryuken shouted when he spotted his son. "Help the nurses."

"What's going on?" Uryu asked, stepping out of the way as two nurses wheeled a young woman passed.

"There was some kind of explosion. It was small but injured several people. I have no time to explain, just help!" With that, Ryuken turned away from Uryu and continued on his way.

Uryu stepped into the nearest room to see if the doctors and nurses had everything under control. As he stepped in to get a look at the patient, he sensed a faint yet strange energy emanating from the burn on the patient's right arm. It looked pretty serious, a third degree burn, but that didn't explain the energy coming from it. Uryu couldn't help but be reminded of a Hollow...

He froze. Was there a Hollow in Kurakara Town? But that didn't make any sense. He would have known, and at the very least Ichigo and Rukia would already be taking care of it. Then why did the burn victim have the remnants of a Hollow's reiatsu?! Uryu hurried out of the room, whipped out his cell phone and dialed Ichigo's number.

"Hello?" Ichigo's voice asked on the other end.

"Kurosaki! Have you heard what's going on?"

"I'm watching the television now. Something about a small explosion that sent people to the hospital. Why?"

"It's not a normal explosion. I just saw one of the patients. He had a third degree burn and I could sense a reiatsu similar to a Hollow's emanating from the burn."

Ichigo's end was silent.

"Kurosaki? Did you hear me? Kurosaki!"

"Yes, I heard you!"

"Then say something! What do you think?"

"Rukia and I will go check it out."

"I'm coming with you."

"Shouldn't you stay there and help your dad run the hospital?"

"He can take care of things himself. I'll meet you at your house." With that, Uryu hung up. He was sure his father must have sensed something too, and if he did, he would have known Uryu would pursue whatever caused it. Besides, unless somebody needed to be sewn up, there was no reason for him to stick around. There were plenty of very good doctors in the hospital. He didn't give it another thought as he ran out of the hospital, not even noticing the pink-haired child on his way out...


	9. Hospital Horrors

Police tape was already roped around the scene of the accident. Police cars and ambulances filled the area while onlookers watched with a mixture of curiosity and fear. Nobody seemed to know what happened. Those that had been nearby when the explosion occurred but had been far enough away as not to sustain injury all said pretty much the same thing: there was a brief flash of red light, then an explosion. A large hole, approximately twelve feet in diameter, had been blasted through the brick wall of an abandoned building. One person had been killed. Some speculated it was teenagers messing around inside, perhaps purposely setting off an explosion when they were no longer in range. Police were trying to figure out just what had caused it, now that all the victims had been brought to the hospital. So far, they were having no luck.

It wasn't hard for Ichigo, Rukia and Uryu to sense the remnants of reiatsu, even from a distance. It definitely had the feel of a Hollow to it, but it was something else at the same time.

"Kuchiki, can you tell what it is?" Uryu asked, pushing his glasses up.

Rukia shook her head. "I haven't felt a reiatsu quite like this before. Whatever it is, it's dangerous. We have to find it."

Ichigo nodded as he lifted the lion-shaped stuffed animal from his side.

"Hey, Ichigo!" Kon yelled, sticking a soft paw in the substitute Shinigami's face and completely ignoring the fact people were around that were not accustomed to talking stuffed animals, "What do you think I am, just grabbing me so roughly like that then carrying me like I'm some kind of child's toy! I-" His complaining was muffled as Ichigo stuck his hand down Kon's throat, pulling out the small candy and popping it into his mouth.

"Don't interrupt me when I'm talking!" The mod-soul resumed his complaining once he had been transferred to Ichigo's body.

"Don't talk when we are in public!" Ichigo yelled back. "You are lucky nobody heard you!"

Rukia cleared her throat loudly, stopping the two's bickering before it could escalate to return to the matter at hand. She was now out of her Gigai, the usual mod-soul taking temporary residence in it. "Stop fighting like children, we have to get to work!"

"You two stay with Ishida." Ichigo instructed the mod-souls, "Rukia and I will search around the immediate area while you three take a look around. It will be easier for us to maneuver around here since they can't see us."

Ishida nodded. He didn't much like the fact he was stuck with two obnoxious mod-souls, but Ichigo's plan made the most sense. Even if he did find something in the area, he couldn't use his Quincy powers in front of other people. With all the attention here, it would be easier should he have to use them somewhere else.

With the plan set, Ishida and the two mod-souls took off, trying to track other traces of reiatsu while Ichigo and Rukia made their way to the abandoned building.

Inside, Ichigo and Rukia were careful not to make any contact with the police officials. The reiatsu was a bit easier to read in the building, strongest near the hole in the wall. They couldn't tell whether it was cause from the inside or the outside, though the likely guess was it had been an attack from the outside that had happened to hit the building.

"Find anything, Rukia?" Ichigo called out, glad that their voices were inaudible to normal humans - normal being those without an enhanced spiritual energy. Luckily, none of the people around seemed to have that heightened sense, and were totally oblivious to the pair rummaging about.

Rukia frowned. "Nothing. Just traces of reiatsu. I don't think we're going to find anything inside this building, let's check around the perimeter."

Ichigo nodded, following Rukia back outside. Hopefully Ishida was having more luck than he was.

--------------------

He was close. Whatever caused that explosion had to be somewhere nearby. Luckily, Uryu had been able to trace the reiatsu; it hadn't been too well hidden. He had tracked it to the park, in one of the lesser traversed areas. Signaling for the mod souls behind him to be quiet, he carefully looked around. It had to be here.

"So? Is it over here?" Kon asked, not even attempting to keep his voice down.

"Be quiet!" Uryu whispered harshly. If it wasn't for the fact Kon was in Ichigo's body, he probably would have sewed his mouth shut already. Though, his father was a doctor, so maybe he could get it all fixed up before Ichigo needed his body back. Or maybe just keep it sewed shut, Ichigo had a habit of getting noisy as well.

Uryu closed his eyes and concentrated, searching for the source of the reiatsu. It seemed to be trying to hide now, but the he had already locked on to it. There! It should be right behind this tree...

The Quincy's eyes widened in shock as he discovered what had caused the explosion.

--------------------

The eight Espada slipped into one of the rooms down the hopsital corridor. He was glad he hadn't been caught. Despite the fact everyone was running around from whatever had happened, it was still a bit surprising nobody noticed him, especially since he had pink hair.

Taking a quick look around the room, Szayel found it was safe and pushed the door closed behind him quietly. Nobody else was inside except for a patient, who was either asleep or otherwise unconscious. There were a lot of different interesting things around. All sorts of medical equipment lined the counter, and there were probably even more inside the cupboards. Well, this was going to be fun.

Grabbing a chair to stand on, Szayel rolled it over to the counter, got on the chair, then climbed onto the countertop. Inside one of the cupboards was a bunch of individually wrapped syringes. He picked one out and unwrapped it, careful not to stab himself with the needle. Syringe in hand, he descended the counter and got onto the bed the patient was laying in. He poked the patient a few times to see if the man would wake up. When he didn't so much as flinch, Szayel poked the needle into his arm. Hmm...it wasn't filling up with blood. He must have hit a wrong spot. Szayel tried again, this time carefully aiming it at one of the veins on the inside of the man's elbow. Ah-hah, success! The Espada smiled as he watched the crimson liquid fill up the tube. Once it was full, he withdrew the needle from the human's arm and headed back over to the counter. What to do with the blood? Ah, he had an idea!

Back into the cupboard, and Szayel grabbed another syringe. Instead of sticking it into the the patient, however, he stuck it in the crook of his own elbow. Once that tube was filled, he found a Petri dish and emptied the contents of both syringes inside. His orange eyes widened in amazement as he watched the blood clump up. Apparently, blood wasn't supposed to be mixed. At least, not his and the other man's. He wondered what would happen if he mixed the blood while it was still in the patient's body. Would it kill him? As much as he wanted to try it, he didn't particularly feel like stabbing himself with the needle again, and he wanted to play with some other stuff.

There was a table at the bedside with an assortment of objects sitting in a tray on top. Among them was a scalpel. The Espada picked it up, examining the blade. it looked sharp. He crawled over to the man and pulled the blanket down. The man was wearing a johnny, so Szayel untied the string around his neck and pulled it down a bit, revealing the man's chest. The pink-haired child put the blade to the patient's skin, just under his neck, and dragged it down about half a foot. He watched the blood pool up on the man's chest along the slice and frowned. He couldn't see what he was doing if there was blood in the way!

Szayel grabbed one of the white sheets and used it to suck up the blood. More came up, but it was less than before, and was also wiped away by the cloth. He went to make another cut, but stopped. This man was still unconscious, he hadn't moved a bit. It was getting boring. Szayel decided it was time to move on to something else, left the scalpel in the man's hand and headed for the door.

Opening the door just a crack, Szayel peered out into the hall. It seemed nobody was coming, so he quickly left the room and tried another one a few doors down.

"Doctor?" A woman's voice asked as the Espada opened the door. She sat up, looked around, then laid eyes on Szayel. She blinked. "You aren't the doctor. What is a little kid like you doing in here?"

Szayel didn't answer, looking around the room instead. He grabbed a pair of white medical gloves and put them on. They were far too big, but he left them on anyway. He then grabbed a mask, which was also too big and laid around his shoulders rather than his face, but he felt it completed the look.

"Little boy, you should leave. Do you need me to call the doctor so we can find your mother?"

When Szayel grabbed a scalpel and climbed up on the bed, the woman's expression went from confused and slightly worried to horrified. "What are you doing? Put that down! That is not a toy!" She grabbed the wrist Szayel had the small knife in, stopping him from cutting her. "That's it, I'm calling the doctor!" After yanking the knife from Szayel's hands, she reached for the button at her bedside.

Having lost his scalpel, the Espada looked for the next thing he could play with. Sitting on the counter beside the bed was a defibrillator. He turned it on and carried the two paddles over to the woman. She was turned over in her bed, reaching for the button to call a doctor. After she had pressed the button and turned around, Szayel pushed them against her chest. She yelped and jumped. For a moment, she said nothing, but her expression quickly turned hostile. She made a grab for Szayel, who easily evaded her hands and leapt off of the bed. Apparently the voltage wasn't quite high enough. He walked over to turn it up when the woman started screaming.

Szayel scowled. How annoying. He turned the voltage up as high as it would go, hoping it would make the woman shut up.

"Hey, bro! What are you doing?! Get out of there!"

Szayel looked around for the source of the male voice. Ilforte was at the window, standing on midair and motioning for Szayel to come to the window. The 5-year-old Espada did so and opened it.

"What do you want?"

"I want you to come with me, I've been looking all over this place for you! Now let's go!"

Before Szayel had any time to protest, his brother grabbed his arm, making him let go of the defibrillator and pulling him out the window. Ilforte slammed the window shut and took off just as the door to the room burst open.

"What is going on in here?!"

"Doctor Ishida!" The woman said in relief. "There is a young boy with pink hair trying to kill me!"

Ryuken raised an eyebrow. A boy with pink hair trying to kill her? That didn't make much sense. "Are you sure you weren't dreaming?"

The woman glared, "No, I was not dreaming! Look! He zapped me with the defibrillator!" She yelled, pointing to where it had been dropped on the floor.

Ryuken walked over and picked up the paddles. His eyes widened when he felt the faint reiatsu. Something had indeed been in here, though what he wasn't sure. Of course, he couldn't tell his patient this, unless he wanted to start a panic. He placed the machine back on the counter and walked over to his patient.

"Don't worry, you are going to be fine. Just lay down and I'll make sure everything is in order." He frowned. This was going to be difficult to cover up. He hoped Uryu was getting to the bottom of whatever was going on.

----------------------

"Are you crazy, bro?" Ilforte asked his brother as he carried the smaller Espada away from the Hospital. Wait, that was a dumb question. Of course he was crazy. Szayel was the epitome of madness, even in child form."You almost got caught!"

Szayel just shrugged. He really didn't care if he had gotten caught, he didn't think it would have been that hard to get away. Not like Ilforte wouldn't have come to get him anyway.

The blond Arrancar sighed and opened a portal to Hueco Mundo. He put Szayel down, not wanting to carry him anymore, and held his hand to make sure he didn't decide to run off again. He wasn't sure which was worse: babysitting his brother turned child, or dealing with the mad-scientist as an adult. Either way, it was a loss for him. Not that he didn't care about Szayel, there was some sort of brotherly bond he felt towards him, but he was pretty sure Szayel didn't reciprocate the feeling. If he did care at all, he certainly didn't show it. Would Szayel have turned him into a snack like the rest of his fraccion if Ilforte had to work under him instead of Grimmjow? It certainly wasn't something Ilforte was going to try to find out. He was perfectly content working under Grimmjow and avoiding his brother's lab.

Once they were back in Hueco Mundo, Ilforte went straight to Aizen to report his success.

"Lord Aizen, I've returned with Szayel."

"Very good, Ilforte. Just keep him occupied until everyone else returns."

Wait, he had to keep Szayel occupied?! How on earth was he going to do that? Ilforte had to bite his tongue to keep from protesting. He had already messed up on the last thing Aizen had asked him to do, which had been looking for information in Szayel's lab about the experiment, so he didn't want to further anger the O Mighty God of Hueco Mundo, lest he be struck by the lightning of his wrath.

"Yes, Lord Aizen." He said with a bow before leading Szayel away. What was he going to do with the little brat for not-even-Aizen knows how long? This was going to be a pain. Well, he certainly wasn't letting Szayel play around in his lab, seeing as that was the reason the Espada were in this state to begin with. Instead, he took Szayel to his room where there was nothing his younger brother could do to cause trouble. Though that also meant there was nothing to do to keep him entertained.

"Yo, bro, wait here for a minute, I'm going to go get something for you to do. I'm serious, don't move, just stay here, okay?"

Szayel nodded and sat down on Ilforte's bed. The older brother hesitated for a moment, then quickly left the room, heading for the place where Ichimaru and Tousen had left the toys. Szayel got bored easily, so hopefully he wouldn't wander off in the time it took him to get a few things for Szayel to play with.

When Ilforte returned, he was relieved to see Szayel in the same spot he had left him. He kicked his door closed behind him and put the toys he had gathered on the floor. They consisted of a toy chemistry set, Legos, and a few dolls. He was sure Szayel would find some way to turn the dolls into experimental subjects.

"There you go, that should be enough to keep you busy for a little while, have a blast."

The Espada slid off Ilforte's bed and took a seat on the floor beside it with the toys while the older brother sat on his bed and watched. Naturally, Szayel did exactly what Ilforte thought he would. He built what seemed to be a makeshift lab out of Legos, using the dolls as test subjects for his experiments with the toy chemistry set.

After a few minutes of playing, Szayel looked up to Ilforte. "Can you help me? I want to pour all three of these into this bowl at the same time, so I need you to pour one for me."

Ilforte looked confused for a moment. Szayel never asked for Ilforte's help, but then again Szayel had never been a kid before. "Alright." He sat on the floor beside Szayel, not wanting to get any colorful liquids on his bedsheets, and took the container of blue liquid he was being handed.

"On the count of three." Szayel instructed, holding his two containers at the ready. "One, two, three!" The brothers both poured the liquids into the bowl at the same time. The liquid gave off a slight smoke, momentarily making Ilforte paranoid until he realized nothing happened. It was just for kids, after all, a simple imitation of real chemicals. Children's toys didn't explode.

"Hmmm...it made smoke." Szayel observed.

"Maybe you could try substituting one of the colors you just used with a different one, see what happens." Ilforte suggested, trying to keep Szayel's attention on the toys.

The pink-haired brother nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. This time, you can use the green one, and I'll use the pink and orange." He grabbed a new bowl, sat in Ilforte's lap, and put it down in front of them.

Ilforte was surprised at Szayel's new choice of seat, immediately suspicious that Szayel wanted to try some experimenting on him, but Szayel seemed to simply want to sit on his brother's lap. Well...this was unusual. He continued to play with Szayel, actually not minding it. He could get used to this. Maybe watching young Szayel wouldn't be so bad after all. For now, at least, he was content just acting like a big brother.

* * *

_Author's Note: So I deviated a bit from my original plan of not having Ichigo and company not even knowing about the Espada, but that was kind of hard to do and I feel this is much better and more exciting to read. Thanks to Naotoki Yamanouchi for help with Szayel's hospital adventure (Almost sounds like a story in itself!) and the chapter title. And wow, thanks so much to my readers so far, I've hit the 50 alert mark! Seriously, I didn't ever think this story would be so popular! I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this. It's summer break now, so updates should come more frequently. _


	10. Recovery

Standing before Uryu was a small boy of 5 years old. His chalk-pale skin was a stark contrast to his ebony hair. His green eyes didn't hold the curious sparkle common in most children. Yet, despite his overall appearance of a human child, he had a reiatsu that matched what was at the scene of the accident exactly.

"Eh? A kid?!" Kon said, staring at the child in disbelief. "Look, kid, I don't know what you did bu-ARGH!" He covered his face and stepped back after being punched by the back of Uryu's fist.

Uryu kneeled on the ground so that he was eye level with the boy, hoping to figure out what was going on by talking to him. "Are you lost?"

The boy said nothing, instead slowly raising his finger, pointing at the three standing before him. A small, green light began forming at the tip of his finger. Uryu's eyes widened. That was...a Cero!

"Get out of the way!" He yelled to the two mod-souls, half-pushing them away just before the green Cero was fired. There was obviously no talking to...whatever this kid was. Uryu held his arm out, his Quincy bow forming in his hand. Good thing nobody was nearby. The child, however, didn't look intimidated in the least. Before Uryu had a chance to realize what was going on, the child vanished, suddenly behind the Quincy using a step very similar to Shunpo. Uryu fell forward as he was kicked in the back with a force equivalent to that of a strong adult.

Getting back to his feet, Uryu fired an arrow at the kid. The arrow hit the ground as the child once again stepped aside far too quickly. The kid was fast...and strong. How could a small body contain so much power?

"Pickin' on a kid? Why, that's terrible."

Uryu spun around, gasping in disbelief when he found the source of the voice. "You!"

Standing behind him was Ichimaru, former Captain of Squad 3.

"Hey. It's been a while." Ichimaru said with a small wave.

Uryu glared, pointing his bow in the Shinigami's direction. "What are you doing here?"

"What am _I_ doing? It's more like what are _you_ doing, tryin' ta fight with a little kid!"

"Don't give me that." Uryu growled. "Tell me what you and this...kid are doing here."

Ichimaru put his finger to his chin, as if thinking about whether or not he was going to say anything. "Hmmm...nah, I don't think you need ta know."

The Quincy finally gave up conversation and shot several arrows at Ichimaru. The Shinigami only smiled and dodged, appearing behind Uryu. Uryu spun around, ready to fire again, but Ichimaru grabbed his wrist.

"I should turn ya in for attempted murder. Tell 'em ya caused that explosion then tried ta kill a kid. They're panicked, so they won't bother ta ask questions."

"What are you trying to accomplish?"

"Accomplish? Hmmm...is world domination what ya wanna hear? Anyway, I have ta get goin'. No time to play." He released his grip on Ishida and walked over to Ulquiorra, who had been simply watching the entire time. Hoping to take advantage while Ichimaru's back was turned, Uryu released several arrows, once of which barely missed Ichimaru's head.

Ichimaru sighed. "Can't just make it easy, can ya? Oh well, your choice." He turned around, his sword drawn. "Shoot 'im dead, Shinso."

Ishida attempted to dodge the attack, but Ichimaru's sword still managed to impale his right shoulder, knocking him back and pinning him to a tree. When Shinso retracted, Ichimaru turned his attention back to the small Espada.

"C'mon, let's go. I wanna get back home. Aizen's waitin'" He picked up Ulquiorra, who didn't resist, and took off, leaving Ishida beside the tree, clutching his shoulder and wondering what was going on.

----------------------

"Ichigo!" Rukia called, signaling for him to come over.

"What is it, Rukia?"

"Can you feel it? A reiatsu similar to that from the explosion, it's nearby."

Ichigo stopped for a moment, trying to find the reiatsu Rukia was talking about. She was right. Not too far from where they were standing was an energy similar to that of a Hollow's, only more powerful. He nodded. "Yeah, I feel it."

The two searched the outskirts of the crowd for the source of the reiatsu. There were still a lot of people gathered around, so it was slightly difficult to pinpoint exactly who it was coming from. From among the crowd, a little boy with dark skin and a bald head turned to Rukia. At first, she figured he just happened to be looking in her direction, but he kept staring right at her. As he approached her, she realized he was the one they had been looking for.

"I'm looking for somebody." The little boy said, "Can you help me?"

Rukia opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't seem to find her voice. What was this child? He didn't seem to have any bad intentions, but if he was a normal human child, there was no way he should be able to se her, never mind his reiatsu level.

"Can you?" He repeated, breaking Rukia out of her thoughts.

"It's too crowded to talk here, could you follow us somewhere with less people?" Rukia asked, hoping the boy would agree. If people saw him talking to thin air, they would think something was wrong and probably take him away.

The boy nodded. Rukia called to Ichigo, and the three found an area behind a building where there were no people around. Rukia was surprised the boy followed them at all, but he didn't seem scared at all. Rukia kneeled down so she was at the boy's eye level while Ichigo remained standing, watching carefully.

"Now, who is it you are looking for?" She asked as calmly as she could.

"A man with brown hair and brown eyes. His name is Aizen."

The Shinigami both froze, staring at the boy. He blinked, looking back and forth between them as if trying to discern if he did something wrong.

"Rukia..." Ichigo muttered, not taking his eyes off the boy.

"I know, but what can we do? He doesn't seem to have any ill intentions..."

"You can give him to me."

Ichigo and Rukia tore their gaze away from the boy and to the man that had spoken.

"Tousen!" Ichigo yelled, grabbing the hilt of his sword, ready to fight.

The ex-Captain held up a hand. "I'm not here to fight, I just want the boy."

"What is he to you?" The substitute Shinigami asked, not taking his hand of his sword.

"That...is none of your concern. Zommari, come."

The boy nodded, turned his back to the Shinigami, and followed Tousen around the corner and out of sight.

"Wait!" Ichigo called after the two, jumping forward and meaning to go after them, but Rukia threw her arm out in front of him, stopping him. "What are you doing? We have to stop them-"

"Ichigo!" Rukia yelled, silencing the substitute Shinigami. "We can't just fight them here, in the middle of Kurakara. He wasn't here to fight us, so we will not give him one."

Ichigo gave a frustrated sigh. He hated to admit it, but Rukia was right. As much as he wanted to chase after Tousen and that kid, he couldn't start a fight here, it would panic the people even more and somebody could get hurt. "Alright, let's go find Ishida."

---------------------

Gasps and murmurs followed the two men walking down the street. Males looked disgusted, females looked horrified. All eyes turned to them, though usually not for very long. Some people seemed to have a hard time looking away, despite how scared they were. It was one of those sights that, for some reason, kept drawing one's gaze even though it hurt to look at.

"Ah, just listen to the gasps of amazement as they gaze upon my beauty!" One of the men said. His short-sleeved tight shirt just barely covered his chest, showing off all the muscles of his abdomen. His pants were worn about as low as was decent.

"No es exacto, Charlotte. I think they are scared, not amazed." The second man said. He was skinny and fully clothed, unlike the one beside him. In fact, he was almost normal looking, other than the fact his blond hair reached his waist and it looked as if he had purple eye-shadow around both eyes.

"Hah! What do you know about beauty, Findor?"

A young girl and her mother passed by, the former staring at Charlotte with a mixture of terror and confusion. The Arrancar winked and blew a kiss to her. The little girl burst into tears, clinging to her mother's skirt.

"Now you are making kids cry." Findor said. He sighed. "And we still haven't found His Majesty. We probably would have found him by now, if you hadn't insisted on going to that spa."

"But they made me so beautiful! My skin, it's so soft! You would have done well to come in too! See how soft my skin is, touch it!"

"I don't want to."

"Come now, touch it!"

"I'm not going to touch it."

"Touch it!" Charlotte yelled, grabbing his fellow fraccion's wrist. The smaller man resisted, trying to pull away. By now, all human activity had ceased as everyone nearby stared at the two gender-confused men, struggling with each other in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Excuse me, what are you two doing?!" A man's voice said, stepping out of a shop and in front of the two. "No wait, I don't want to know what you are doing, just remove yourselves from in front of my store."

Findor and Charlotte stopped, taking a step away from each other and turning to the man.

"Actually, we are looking for a child." The blond explained.

The man raised an eyebrow. "A child?"

"Exacta."

"Exacta? You two aren't from around here, are you?"

"Exacta!"

The man looked about ready to kick the two off the sidewalk and let them be run over. "Look, I haven't seen a stray kid, but if there's any child in the care of you two, I hope a protection agency has found him already, now get out of here or I'm calling the cops!"

"Let's go, Charlotte." Findor said, walking by the man. "I don't think His Majesty is here anyway."

Charlotte flipped his hair as he walked by, following Findor. He hoped they found Barragan soon. These humans just couldn't understand true beauty, and he was getting tired of being surrounded by ugly people.

---------------

"You there! I'm hungry! I want a snack! Hey! Don't walk away! Fine. You, with the ugly little dog, yes you, get me something to eat!"

Standing atop a statue near the entrance to the park, Barragan shouted orders at anybody passing by. Much to his dismay, however, nobody was listening.

"I am the King and you are my servants! You must listen to me! Obey me!"

"Did somebody call the police?" A woman asked, looking up at the 5-year-old boy demanding everyone's attention.

"I did." Another woman said, holding up her cell phone. "They should be here any minute."

Sure enough, a couple minutes later, a police car pulled up and two officers stepped out of their car.

"What seems to be the trouble here?"

The woman who called spoke up, "Well, Officers, this child is standing on a statue demanding people do to things for him. I'm not sure how he got there or where his parents are, but something needs to be done."

The two men stepped up to the statue and looked up at Barragan, who pointed at them.

"You two! I am thirsty from yelling. Get me a drink."

"Boy, you need to come down from there."

"No, you need to get me a drink."

"No, you need to come down from there."

"I said get me a drink!"

"And I said come down from there!"

The officer's partner shook his head. Was a grown man seriously arguing with a five year old? "Alright, enough!" He yelled, silencing them both. "You, little boy, need to come down. Now."

Barragan crossed his arms and sat stubbornly. "No."

The officer sighed. "If you don't come down, we will get you. Please just make it easy and come down. We can catch you if you have to jump."

"No."

The man gave an aggravated sigh. Out of all the things he could be doing right now, he had to get a little kid from a statue? He was ready to climb up there himself to grab the child when a voice called out from behind him.

"Your Majesty, there you are!"

"Findor! Where have you been? These people have not been listening to a word I've said!"

The blond Arrancar bowed. "I'm sorry to hear you are displeased. If you would come with me now, we can get you whatever it is you need."

Barragan nodded. "Catch me!" He commanded, then jumped down into Findor's arms.

The police officers couldn't believe what they were seeing. The second one was the first to speak. "Are you in charge of this child?"

"Exacta." The blond replied as Barragan climbed onto his shoulders.

"First off, you need to keep better track of this kid. Secondly, why are you treating him like a king? No wonder the kid is so demanding!"

Findor sighed. "Sorry, I don't have time to talk, gotta go."

The first policeman grabbed Findor's arm. "Hey, wait up there, buddy. We can't just let you go like that."

Findor turned to Charlotte, who he had left behind in attempt to make the recovery go a bit more smoothly. Apparently, that didn't work. The good thing was, he had another solution to the problem. "Hey, Charlotte, why don't you show these good men you beauty?"

Charlotte looked up with a hopeful expression. "You mean...?"

"Exacta."

In an instant, Charlotte had his sword drawn. "Sparkle, Reina De Rosas!" he sang, spinning around in a circle like a ballet dancer. A bright flash of pink temporarily blinded everyone, giving Findor the moment he needed to start running. Once the light had subsided, a collective gasp rose from everyone close enough to see what was going on.

Charlotte was now standing in high heels, a pink mantle flowing at his shoulders with a matching skirt. His top had gotten smaller and he was no longer wearing pants, barely covered by an indescribable article of clothing. He spun in a circle again, stopping with his arms on his hips.

"Behold, true beauty!"

For a moment, all was silent. Charlotte was sure they were all taking in his beauty, bathing in its rays. That is, until everyone started screaming insults, covering their children's eyes and demanding the man be taken away.

"You are under arrest for indecency!" The second police officer yelled, doing his best to address Charlotte without looking much at him.

Charlotte's mouth dropped open. "What? Indecency? What blasphemy is this?! You ugly people clearly do not know true beauty when you see it!"

The people were in an uproar and nobody was listening. The two police officers looked torn between running away themselves and doing their jobs by walking up to Charlotte and arresting him, afraid to touch him.

"Let's go!" Findor called, already too far away for the police to do anything about him.

Charlotte took off after his fellow fraccion, crying about how nobody appreciated beauty. Findor ignored him.

"Are you okay, Your Majesty?"

"I am now."

"Good, we are going back home."

"And away from this place filled with ugly, ugly people!" Charlotte yelled. He wanted to leave and never come back.

------------------

"Hey, Ulquiorra?" Ichimaru asked as he opened Garganta. "Why did ya cause that explosion anyway? Just curious."

"They were trash."

Trash, of course. He should have known better. Hopefully Aizen wouldn't be too angry over the destruction. Ichimaru was actually happy with it. The Quincy was so fun to tease since he was always so serious, it had made an otherwise horrible day a bit more interesting.

Sensing his fellow Shinigam nearby, Ichimaru turned around. "Ah, Tousen. Oh, you got Zommari!"

Tousen nodded. "And you have Ulquiorra. I believe Charlotte and Findor are on the way with Barragan as well."

Ichimaru gave a large sigh of relief. "Whew! That makes all of 'em! Good!" The sun was beginning to set now, it had taken them the entire day to find the Espada. Ichimaru concluded it was the longest day of his life- which technically wasn't even over yet. Though, at least now he wouldn't have to track down the brats. Maybe Aizen would let him tie them up. Then nobody would have to worry about them. Was there an Espada-proof rope? Maybe Szayel had something in his lab they could use.

Charlotte's voice could be heard as he approached, still ranting about how very ugly the town was. Good, that meant Barragan was back. With the final three Espada gathered, the Shinigami and fraccion walked through the portal and back home.

* * *

_Author's Note: Charlotte and Findor's walk around town was the restult of an IM conversation with Naotoki Yamanouchi. After she mentioned them looking for Barragan together, I realized it would be so much better with the gender-confused cross-dresser. He may be scary to look at, but I have to admit, he's hilarious and fun to write about. Anyway, here ends the search for the mischievous little Espada, next chapter will be back at Hueco Mundo._


	11. Bonding

_Author's Note: My laptop broke down on me several days ago, so I wasn't sure if I'd be able to type up anything. Luckily, I still have access to a computer and I only had about a page typed up of this chapter, so it wasn't hard starting it over. Anyway, thanks to Holli-Batali, who left a comment suggesting a bonding moment between Ichimaru and the children, which spawned the idea for this chapter. Enjoy!_

* * *

After returning to Hueco Mundo, Aizen had devised a new strategy for watching the Espada. Since the first idea of having them all stay in one room together had ended badly, he had decided that each Espada would stay with his or her previously assigned caretaker. This way, each child could receive individual attention to prevent them from getting into any more trouble. It was a good plan, and made Tousen and Ichimaru wonder why Aizen hadn't thought of it in the first place. Ichimaru was convinced Aizen was just torturing them for his own personal amusement.

"Finally, she's out of those nasty clothes." Mila-Rose sighed, sitting back and watching Sun-Sun brush Halibel's hair.

Apache growled, "I can't believe those stupid humans did that to Lady Halibel! How dare they treat her like some human child!"

"They didn't know." Sun-Sun said, not even bothering to look at Apache.

"Are you defending them, Sun-Sun?" Apache said with a threatening tone in her voice, glaring over at her fellow fraccion.

"I am merely speaking the truth. The humans couldn't have known any better. They did what they believed was the right thing to do."

"That's still an insult to Lady Halibel!"

"Oh, calm down. You are getting worked up over nothing. It's already passed, and Lady Halibel is safe. Getting angry over it now isn't doing anybody any good."

Apache growled but said nothing more. Sun-Sun always managed to win arguments. It drove her crazy, but there wasn't really anything she could do about it.

"I hope I didn't cause too much trouble." Halibel said, looking over at Apache. "I got lost."

Mila-Rose smiled. "We were just worried about you, Lady Halibel. It's our fault for not paying enough attention. That's what we get for trusting you in the hands of men."

"If Lord Aizen hadn't ordered us to look after her, I would have requested it anyway." Sun-Sun said, putting Halibel's hair into two ponytails. "We are her fraccion, after all, it's our responsibility to take care of her.

"What do you want to do now, Lady Halibel?" Apache asked.

Halibel thought for a moment. "I would like it if we could all play together."

Mila-Rose nodded. "Alright then, I'll go get some stuff for us to do. Apache, want to come with me, help carry the toys?"

"Sure." Apache said, all her previous anger gone, and followed Mila-Rose to the room where the toys were still being kept.

"It's nice when they aren't arguing." Sun-Sun said, watching them walk out. After a whole day's worth of arguing and frantically searching for Lady Halibel, it was a nice change of pace. Now, if it could just stay like this until Lady Halibel returned to her normal self, things would be wonderful. It probably wouldn't last longer than the night, but Sun-Sun supposed that would be fine. After all, things just wouldn't be the same if the other two didn't have their pointless arguments every other day.

--------------------------

"So, what do you want to do next?" An all too excited Lilinette asked, completely ignoring the annoyed expression on Stark's face. His hair was still a little wet from the bubble bath she had given him which, despite his protesting, she was convinced he enjoyed.

"I want to go to sleep." Came the grumpy reply.

Lilinette huffed. "Don't be so boring! You are a kid, you are supposed to be all energetic and want to play!"

"But I was out all day."

"You were sleeping in a furniture store. That doesn't count. I know! Let's play Hide and Seek! Just no leaving this room."

Stark thought for a moment. If he was the one doing the hiding, it might not be so bad. "Okay. Can I hide first?"

The fraccion nodded. "Yep! Okay, ready?" She turned around covering her eyes with her hands. "One…two…three…"

Stark didn't need more than 5 seconds to pick out his hiding spot and get to it. He climbed into his bed, threw the blankets over his head, and closed his eyes.

"…thirteen, fourteen, fifteen! Ready or not, here I come!" Lilinette turned around and immediately spotted the small lump under the blankets. She shook her head and pulled them down until they were around Stark's shoulders. He was already asleep. Smiling to herself, Lilinette climbed into the bed beside Stark. She got comfortable, and a few moments later, was sound asleep.

-----------------------

Tesla groaned. Somehow, taking care of a child form of Noitora was a lot harder than his adult self. He normally had no problem serving Noitora. After all, it was an honor to be able to help the person one idolized. But this…this was just too much. Not only was Noitora very bossy as a 5-year-old, he also asked for the strangest things. For example, upon returning to Hueco Mundo, Noitora told Aizen he should get rid of all the women around because girls were crazy. When asked why they were crazy, the Espada had replied, "They just are". For a moment, Tesla had thought Aizen was going to punish him for Noitora's rude behavior, but, other than a spine-chilling glance, he did nothing, dismissing him to take care of Noitora.

"Hey, Tesla, I'm bored. Entertain me."

"But, Master Noitora, you have those toys to play with." Tesla frowned. He had brought several toy cars from the temporary toy room as well as some Legos that Noitora had demanded only a few minutes ago, and he was already bored?

Noitora pushed the toys aside. "I don't want them anymore. They aren't fun."

"I'm sorry, Master Noitora, but I'm not really sure what you want."

"Fight me."

Tesla stared at Noitora for a moment. "Excuse me?"

"I said fight me. Are your ears broken?"

"Master Noitora, I don't think that's-" Tesla's sentence was cut short as Noitora lunged at him. The fact that the Espada was far stronger than a normal five-year-old combined with the sudden attack caught Tesla off guard, knocking him to the ground.

At first, the fraccion simply tried getting Noitora off of him, but that failed, and soon the two were rolling around on the floor play wrestling. Tesla kept on the defensive, letting Noitora whack his head a few times, while the Espada easily blocked Tesla's blows. The battle ended with Noitora sitting on Tesla's stomach, declaring victory.

"Hah! I win! You know, Tesla, you better start fighting better."

"Fighting better, Master Noitora?"

Noitora nodded. "That's right. We can't have anybody else beating you. Only I'm allowed to do that."

Tesla couldn't help but smile. "Of course. I will train hard."

"Good." Noitora said, getting off of Tesla. "Now, go fill the tub up for me, I want to take a bath."

----------------------

Barragan sat atop his Lego throne, arms crossed, watching his fraccion argue. Charlotte had been complaining ever since they returned, and was further angered when he told his story to the rest of the fraccion and got laughed at.

Ggio was holding his stomach, doubled-over in laughter. "Those poor people, having to watch you release!"

"It made for the perfect escape." Findor said, nodding.

Avirama was also laughing. "They are probably scarred for life!"

Charlotte glared. "What do you know about beauty, Avirama? Just look at you! With your ugly eyes and weird tattoos all over!"

"Weird tattoos?! My tattoos make me look strong, unlike you! You have a pink heart on your stomach!"

"It is not pink! It is more of a light purple! And it is very elegant!"

"Elegant? Who cares about elegance?! Power is what is important, fool!"

"I have to agree with Avirama." Ggio said, finally able to stop laughing, "All your so called 'beauty' means nothing if you can't fight well."

"See? Even the shrimp agrees with me."

Ggio twitched. "Shimp? Are you insulting me?!"

"You are rather small, Ggio. You are the shortest among us." Nirgge pointed out.

"That's because you are all hulking beasts! And because you are so big, you are slow. _I_, on the other hand, have both great speed _and_ strength! I could kick all your asses any day!"

Findor suddenly took on a serious tone. "I'm not so sure about that, Ggio. Charlotte may very well blind you if you had to battle him."

Despite his anger at the rest of the fraccion, Ggio couldn't help but give in to another laughing fit, which sent Charlotte off on another tangent.

"All of you are incredibly annoying." Poww suddenly cut in with a sharp tone. "You all need to calm down."

Ggio growled. "You are just boring."

"And ugly." Charlotte added in quickly.

"ENOUGH!" Barragan suddenly yelled, immediately silencing all of his fraccion. "Charlotte, you are _not_ beautiful! Ggio, for an adult, you _are_ a shrimp! All of you, you are annoying! Now shut up and get me something to eat!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The six fraccion said in unison, using their Sonido to quickly get Barragan some food to eat.

---------------------

Maybe this was revenge for playing with the corridors and getting Yami lost. Though he hadn't been messing with the corridors at the time the accident occurred, his doing so in the past probably confused the Espada enough to get him lost this time and ask Szayel for help. Ichimaru groaned as he suddenly realized this whole thing was potentially his fault, at least partly. This must be some cruel form of revenge for everything he had ever done wrong in the past, like leaving Soul Society…and Rangiku.

Hm…Rangiku…he wondered what she was doing right now. Certainly not busy taking care of a kid. Though, he had to admit, now that it was just Aaroniero he had to watch, it wasn't so bad.

"Hey, Ichimaru, I'm hungry. Can we go get something to eat?"

"Sure. Come on, I'll take ya to go find some food."

Ichimaru was a bit surprised as Aaroneiro grabbed his hand and walked next to him. Maybe it was some instinct children had when walking with adults. He did usually see children holding their parents' hands. Being a parent…he wondered what that would be like. He already knew how troublesome it could be, but surely it had to have its positive times too. After all, the children he was watching now were Espada, they were bound to be more trouble than a normal child. Raising his own child with Rangiku, watching him or her grow, teaching him how to fight…Rangiku would surely love it.

Bah, what was he thinking? These things would never happen. He had turned his back on Soul Society as well as Rangiku. There was no going back for him; he had sealed his fate the moment he decided to stay with Aizen.

"Is something wrong? You look sad." Aaroneiro suddenly said.

Ichimaru was quickly snapped out of his thoughts. Oops, had he let his smile slip? He was usually so good at keeping it on. Then again, Tousen did say children were very perceptive. Making sure his usual grin was back on his face, he looked down at Aaroneiro. "Nah, nothin's wrong."

Aaroneiro didn't seem convinced. With his spare hand, he reached into his pocket and held out a cookie to Ichimaru.

The Shinigami blinked. "Is that a cookie? Where did ya get that? I thought ya just said you were hungry and wanted food?"

"I am hungry, but I'm not going to eat all these now. They are good so I want to save some for later. You can have this one though."

Ichimaru's smile, for the moment, was genuine. He took the cookie from Aaroneiro and took a bite. "Thanks."

"No problem. Just don't ask me for more, because I can't just keep giving you all of them."

"Alright." Ichimaru chuckled. If there was any hope at all of returning to Rangiku's side, perhaps, one day, they could start a family.

* * *

Bonus!

The Origins of Tesla's Eye Patch

"Hey, Tesla, what's this for?" Noitora asked, pulling a sheathed sword out of a corner and laying it down in front of him.

"Ah, that's your sword."

Noitora looked confused. "My sword? I have a sword? Like, to kill people with?"

Tesla bit his lip, realizing he shouldn't have been so honest. A five-year-old Noitora with a sword couldn't be a good thing. "Well, it's for when you get older."

"I don't want to wait until I'm older. I want it now." Noitora said, unsheathing the sword without bothering to ask.

"Ah, Master Noitora, that's really not safe! Please put it back!"

Noitora ignored his fraccion and picked the sword up. He swung it around a couple of times, scratching a wall and almost shattering a window. A grin crept across his face as he held the sword in front of him with two hands. "I like this."

Worried that Noitora would wreck the room or harm himself, Tesla stepped forward, making a move to take the sword from the Espada. Unfortunately, Noitora had picked that same moment to swing it again. Tesla yelped as the tip of the blade cut across his right eye and stumbled back. He brought his hand up over his eye, touching the area gingerly. When he brought his shaky hand back down, his fingertips were red. "Ah…M-Master Noitora…th-that was my eye!" He didn't need to get it looked at to know he would never have sight in his right eye again. The horribly stinging pain was enough to tell him that. He whimpered as he felt the blood trail down from his eye to his chin.

Noitora just stared for a moment, then shrugged. "Ah, put an eye patch over it."

And so he did.


	12. Settling Down

"Lord Aizen must really trust us if he's having us watch over Ulquiorra." Loly said, sitting on the edge of her bed, Menoly next to her as they watched the five-year-old Ulquiorra stack blocks into a high tower.

"I suppose so. He does seem to trust Ulquiorra the most out of all of the Espada."

Loly smiled. She'd put up with watching Ulquiorra if it meant doing a favor for Lord Aizen. Luckily, he had proved very easy to take care of. In fact, she and Menoly barely had to do anything; they mostly just watched him play. It was a bit odd seeing him play with toys, but Loly supposed that was a result of him now being a child. "Maybe after this, we'll even get more attention. I'll gladly do more tasks for him if it means he'll think highly of me!"

Menoly rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything. She couldn't argue with being more important in the eyes of Lord Aizen, she just wasn't quite as enthralled with him as Loly was.

"It'll be great, Menoly! When he sees how well we took care of Ulquiorra, he'll have to pay more attention to us! I can't wait to see how he reacts! Soon, _I'll_ be his favorite."

"He doesn't even like you." Ulquiorra said, not looking up from his blocks.

Loly's gaze hardened. "Excuse me?"

The Espada still didn't look up, but repeated himself. "He doesn't like you."

"And how would _you_ know?"

"It's obvious."

Loly was on her feet now, growing more agitated with the young form of Ulquiorra. "Then explain why he smiled at me the way he did when he asked us to take care of you."

Ulquiorra sighed. "He smiles like that to everyone. Didn't you notice? You aren't special like you think you are."

"You little brat! How dare you talk to me that way! You are in _my_ command right now, so you will do as I say! Now shut up! You don't know what Aizen thinks of me!"

"I know better than you do, and it's obvious he does not care about you."

"You!" Loly stepped forward and brought her hand back, ready to smack Ulquiorra when Menoly grabbed her wrist.

"Loly! Stop it! You are arguing with a kid! Besides, didn't you want to take care of him for Lord Aizen?"

Loly spun around to face her partner. "I am taking care of him! He is being a brat, and he needs a good smack!"

"You are being ridiculous, Loly. You know hitting Ulquiorra isn't going to get us anything but in trouble with Lord Aizen. He won't care what the reason, he'll only care that Ulquiorra was hit in our care and that's not going to make him think any higher of you."

Loly growled and stamped back to the bed. "Fine, but I'm making him sleep on the floor."

The blonde shook her head. "No, he's going to stay in one of our beds. We'll have to share for a night."

As much as Loly wanted to argue, she didn't, simply grunting and sitting down on her bed. Somehow, younger Ulquiorra was more annoying than his usual self. He had gone from easy to take care of to a pain in the ass little brat in under a minute. After putting up with this, Loly felt that she had better get some recognition from Lord Aizen.

-------------

Zommari sat quietly in Aizen's room, content with putting a puzzle together on the floor. He had remained quiet, focused on getting the pieces in the right places, and Aizen hadn't bothered to interrupt him. He was curious, however, as to what the Espada thought about how Gin and Kaname had been taking care of them.

"Zommari, have Ichimaru and Tousen been taking good care of you and the other Espada?"

At Aizen's question, Zommari put the puzzle piece he had been holding down, turning his full attention to the adult. "Yes. Tousen is a bit nicer than Ichimaru, but they aren't bad."

"I see. They did lose track of you all, however."

Zommari nodded. "Yes, but they found us. We left when they were still sleeping, so they couldn't have stopped us."

"I hope you will not try to do that again. Leaving without permission is strictly forbidden. Did somebody show you how to go to that other world?"

"No, we just knew. We were bored, so we were trying to find something to do. I won't do it again."

Aizen gave Zommari a fatherly grin. "I'm sure you won't. That's all, you can resume your puzzle."

Despite the fact that the Espada had indeed escaped Hueco Mundo, Aizen supposed he did owe something to Gin and Kaname. They, along with the fraccion, had managed to bring the Espada back unharmed. Not too much was done to the humans either, considering what could have happened. Not that he cared about the humans, but it was Kurosaki's gang he was worried about. While the Espada were still strong in their child forms, they were not nearly as powerful as normal, and it wouldn't do to have them harmed in their weaker states. Not that it would be hard at all to push the Substitute Shinigami and his crew back, but it was just better if it didn't need to come to that. At least now the Espada were all back, and they wouldn't be running away again, Aizen would make sure of that. All he had to do now was hope they reverted to their original forms soon.

------------------

Since coming back to Las Noches, Yammy had been rather easy to take care of for Tousen. All the Shinigami had to do was set the Espada and Wonderweiss up with some Legos and let them play. For a while, they seemed to be getting along well, working together to build things with the plastic blocks, but when Yammy decided to start knocking them down and breaking them after they were built, Wonderweiss started getting aggravated.

"Haaaooo!" Wonderweiss yelled at Yammy as the Espada laughed after destroying the third tower. He scooped the Legos to himself and began rebuilding it. When Yammy saw him take most of the Legos, he stopped laughing and glared.

"Hey, you can't have all of them!"

Wonderweiss ignored Yammy and kept building. At this, the Espada repositioned himself to sit near the tower as well. When it was tall enough, Yammy once again knocked it down. Before Tousen could make any move to stop it, Wonderweiss lashed out at Yammy, knocking him into a wall and leaving a large dent the size of the Espada.

"Ow! That hurt!" Yammy yelled, getting back to his feet. "Grrr...you'll pay for that!" He stepped forward, ready to attack Wonderweiss, but Tousen got between the two first.

"Yammy! Wonderweiss! You are not to fight!"

"But he hurt me!" The Espada argued, trying to walk toward the Arrancar but was held off by Tousen.

The Shinigami knelt down to Yammy's level. "He did hurt you, and that was wrong, but do you know why he did that?" When the Espada didn't say anything, Tousen continued. "It's because you kept knocking down his tower and he didn't want you to." He then turned to Wonderweiss. "Wonderweiss, I know you are angry that Yammy knocked down your towers, but that does not give you the right to hurt him. I don't want you two fighting. Now, you can play together, or I can split the Legos in half and you can play alone."

"I want to play alone." Yammy said, glaring at Wonderweiss.

Tousen nodded, put all the Legos in a pile, then counted them out into two equal piles. He then slid one pile over to Wonderweiss and one pile over to Yammy. "You both have an equal number, and are not to touch each other's blocks."

Without another word, Yammy sat in one corner of the room and started building another tower to knock down while Wonderweiss sat by the edge of Tousen's bed. The Shinigami sighed and sat down. He didn't mind taking care of children too much, as he discovered when the Espada had first become five-year-olds, but the constant close supervision the Espada needed was getting tiring. A normal child would still need to be supervised, of course, but there wasn't quite as much danger of them hurting others, nor would a normal child be able to wreak havoc like the Espada did in Karakura Town.

For a moment, Tousen wondered what would happen if the Espada didn't change back. He could just picture Ichimaru giving up and handing in resignation papers, which was rather humorous. On a more serious note, that would be a problem for Aizen. Well, Aizen probably wouldn't see it as much of a problem, he would most likely just create more Espada. Aizen was a very patient man, and would wait as long as he had to before his plans were perfect. Well, as long as they could keep the current Espada from destroying all of Hueco Mundo, things wouldn't be too bad...Tousen hoped.

------------------

"How long is he going to be stuck like this?" Di Roy complained, watching Grimmjow play with action figures inside of a dollhouse.

"It is unknown." Shawlong replied, seemingly not irritated by Grimmjow's child form like Di Roy was, "He could be back to normal tomorrow or a week from now. We just have to take care of him until then."

Di Roy sighed in annoyance. "We're fraccion, not babysitters! I mean, come on, he's sitting there playing with a dollhouse!"

Shawlong shot a glare in his fellow fraccion's direction. "Do not grow so impatient, Di Roy. It is because we are his fraccion that we must look after him until his normal form is restored."

"Hah hah hah! Take that!" Grimmjow yelled, making one of his action figures tear apart the bathroom of the dollhouse. He grabbed another action figure and had it hide under a table. "Stop! Please stop!" He laughed as he played out the destruction of Keigo's home, only more exaggerated than the actual event had been. It was a wonder that the dollhouse itself was still in one piece, though that probably wasn't going to last long.

"At least he's having fun." Edrad said, watching Grimmjow toss the toy furniture around the toy house and have his doll stomp on a plate, crushing it. Nakeem simply nodded in agreement.

Grimmjow looked up from his rampage. "Hey, can one of you play with me instead of just watching? I only have two hands and I need more people."

Figuring nobody else was about to take the initiative, Shawlong sat down beside the Espada. Grimmjow grinned and handed his fraccion the action figure he was using as Keigo.

"Just hide and be a crybaby."

Shawlong did as Grimmjow said, making his toy run back and forth, hiding in different areas of the house while Grimmjow's dolls terrorized it. Soon, Edrad joined in, taking up another doll that was also running away from Grimmjow's. Di Roy and Nakeem didn't join in the play, but instead went to go find Grimmjow something to eat since they were supposed to keep the Espada in the rooms until further notice and Grimmjow was busy playing anyway. The rest of the night progressed in a similar fashion, and eventually, Di Roy and Nakeem also played with Grimmjow, keeping the Espada entertained until he was finally out of energy and was fast asleep.

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_Author's Note: Sorry for the short chapter. I hope I kept Grimmjow's fraccion somewhat in character, I was really unsure of how to write them and couldn't find much information on their personalities, nor do I really remember them from the series. ^^; Next chapter will hopefully be a bit better._


	13. Expended

_Author's note: Look, an update! More importantly, this will be the last update, as this is the final chapter in the story. I hope you all enjoy it!_

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Ichimaru had a brilliant plan: let the Espada run around outside. It was impossible to keep 10 5-year-old children from running around, and being cooped up inside all day despite the size of Las Noches was clearly agitating them. They needed to be able to run around where the Shinigami wouldn't have to worry about them destroying anything, and there was absolutely nothing outside of the palace they could ruin. All Ichimaru, Tousen and the fraccion would have to do would be to keep an eye on them to make sure they didn't try to run away or kill each other. The Espada could even have fun killing some Hollow if they wanted. It was perfect.

Much to the Shinigami's pleasure, the Espada had stayed with their fraccion for the entire night. Even better was the fact that nothing had been destroyed and nobody had been killed. Of course, this left the question of how long the peace would last. Ichimaru certainly didn't want to test that by keeping the Espada inside any longer, so he brought the suggestion up to Tousen, who wholeheartedly agreed, and they both brought it up to Aizen. Aizen also thought it was a good idea, but, of course, it was being left to Ichimaru and Tousen to make sure everything went well. Aizen called the fraccion, who brought the Espada with them, and the group went outside.

"Can we hunt Hollow?" Grimmjow asked as they walked down a hall.

Tousen nodded. "If you stay in the sight of an adult, you may hunt Hollow."

Grimmjow held up a fist. "Yeah!"

Once they got outside, the Shinigami and fraccion split up in a way that maximized the area the Espada had to run around but prevented any Espada from getting away without being seen. As soon as they were told they could play, they ran off to do their own thing.

Hearing all the commotion, Nel, Dondochaka, Pesche and Bawabawa stopped their game of Eternal Tag.

"Do you hear dat?" Nel asked, putting a hand to her ear.

"It sounds like people playing, don'tcha know?" Dondochaka said.

"Playing? Nel wants to play too!"

With that, the small Arrancar took off, running in the direction the sounds were coming from.

"Hey! Wait for us!" Pesche yelled, then ran after Nel with Dondochaka and Bawabawa following.

As a boy came into sight, Nel stopped and pointed. "Hey, look, somebody that's Nel's age!"

Pesche and Dondochaka squinted as they examined the boy standing a short way away from them, then turned to stare at each other, wide-eyed and disbelieving. Nel tilted her head to one side.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh! Uh..." Pesche scratched the back of his head, trying to come up with an excuse to tell Nel. "That Arrancar looks dangerous! We should stay away!" He nodded, as did Dondochaka. They had no clue how Noitora had been turned into a child, but they recognized him when they saw him, regardless of his form. They weren't going to tell Nel any of this, of course. Not only did she not remember what had happened that fateful day, but they didn't _want_ her to remember. They were determined to protect her at all costs.

Nel laughed. "He doesn't look dangerous! Besides, Nel has Pesche and Dondochaka and Bawabawa! Nel isn't afwaid!" With that, she continued running, waving as she approached Noitora. "Heeeeeeey!"

Noitora looked over with a glare. "Whadda you want?"

"You look like you're da same age as Nel! Nel wants to play wiff you!"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because," Noitora crossed his arms, "You're a girl."

Nel stared with a blank expression. "So?"

"So, I don't play with girls." Before Nel could respond, Noitora began to walk away. Nel, however, wasn't about to take that as an answer. Without warning, she leaped at Noitora, the eye holes in her mask glowing as she flew at him with a speed similar to a Sonido, slamming headfirst into his back.

Noitora cursed as he flew forward, propelled by Nel's speed, then skidding along the dirt until the both of them finally stopped. He flung the small Arrancar off and jumped to his feet. "What the hell was that for?!"

"I tagged you. Now you have to chase me and Pesche and Dondochaka and Bawabawa! It's Eternal Tag!"

"I told you, I'm not playing with you! Now leave me alone!"

"You have to! I tagged you!"

"Go away, dammit!" Noitora yelled and stuck out his tongue, a Cero beginning to form. A moment later, it shot forward, aiming right at Nel.

Nel didn't move. Instead, she opened her mouth, sucking in Noitora's entire Cero. The Espada stared, wide-eyed, as she swallowed the last of it. Nel held her hands to her mouth, having a hard time containing the Cero. Once she couldn't hold it in anymore, she spit it out, sending a Cero even more powerful than the original back at Noitora. He just barely managed to dodge the attack with Sonido.

Tesla, who had been watching Noitora, ran forward. "Master Noitora!"

"Go away, Tesla! I don't need help!" Noitora yelled and stomped up to Nel. "I don't know who you think you are, but I swear, I'll kill you!"

Nel only smiled. "You gotta catch me first!"

Before Noitora could spit out an insult, Nel had taken off, laughing as she ran.

"You bitch! Get back here!"

"Ah, Master Noitora!" Tesla called after Noitora, who had decided to chase Nel. Unfortunately for Tesla, the Espada was not listening, leaving the fraccion with no choice but to follow. "You aren't supposed to be out of my sight! Come back!"

"Pesche! Dondachaka! Bawabawa! Ruuuun!" Nel screamed with a higher-pitch than necessary, making her three friends believe that she was afraid of Noitora. As a result,they jumped in front of her, forcing Noitora to stop in his tracks.

"Out of the way!" He yelled.

Pesche held out a hand, his palm facing Noitora. "We cannot allow you to harm Nel!"

For a moment, Noitora and the other three just stared each other down, until Nel broke the silence.

"Waaaah! Pesche! Dondochaka! Bawabawa! You have to run! He's _It_!" She yelled, flailing her arms.

Nel's companions froze, whirled around and ran. Noitora continued to give chase, determined to make Nel pay for making a fool of him and further angered by the fact they were acting like it was all a game. Unfortunately for him, Nel and her friends were very used to running, making it difficult for him to catch up. Even when he decided to use his Sonido, Nel used her own "Supa Speed", as she called it, and was once again ahead of Noitora. The Espada wasn't ready to give up, however, and thus continued to chase Nel, playing right in to her game of Eternal Tag.

Meanwhile, Grimmjow was poised like a cat, his eyes fixed on a bird-like Hollow that was flying close to the ground. Just as he was ready to pounce, a green Cero came from somewhere to Grimmjow's left, hitting the bird and causing it to fall to the ground. Grimmjow stood up and turned to his left to see Ulquiorra standing there, finger extended, pointing to where the Hollow had been only a moment ago.

"You took my Hollow!" Grimmjow yelled.

Ulquiorra tilted his head to the side. "Took your Hollow? I got to it first. You were too slow, so it's my Hollow."

Grimmjow growled and leaped at Ulquiorra instead. Before Ulquiorra got the chance to use his Sonido to move out of the way, Grimmjow had him pinned to the ground.

"It's _my_ Hollow!"

Ulquiorra only glared up at Grimmjow. "No, it's not."

"Yes it is!"

"Get another Hollow. I hit it first, so it's mine."

"_You_ get another Hollow!"

Seeing Grimmjow and Ulquiorra arguing, Aaroneiro decided to take advantage of the situation and take the Hollow for himself. He was about to take a bite out of it when the two bickering Espada saw him. Grimmjow was off of Ulquiorra in an instant and running at Aaroneiro.

"Hey! Why does everyone keep trying to steal my Hollow! It's MINE!"

Grimmjow tackled Aaroneiro, sending them both tumbling around on the ground.

"You weren't doing anything with it, so I took it!" Aaroneiro argued, trying to push Grimmjow off of him.

"That's because Ulquiorra tried to take it from me!"

When Ulquiorra tried to reclaim the Hollow, both Grimmjow and Aaroneiro jumped at him, leaving the three Espada-turned-children to wrestle on the ground, kicking up dirt all around them.

"Hey, hey, break it up!" Ichimaru yelled, running over to the group and forcing them apart from each other.

Grimmjow growled. "They were trying to steal my Hollow!"

Ichimaru sighed. "There are plenty of Hollow around, just find another one."

"But that one was MINE!" Grimmjow stomped.

"Okay, fine, Grimmjow, you can have that one. Ulquiorra and Aaroneiro, you two go find your own Hollow."

Ulquiorra looked over at the Hollow, and then back to Ichimaru. "But I was the one who brought it down."

Ichimaru was getting agitated. Did kids have to fight over _everything_? "Fine. Ya know what? None of you get the Hollow. If you are going to argue over it, nobody gets it. Now, if ya want a Hollow, you'll each have ta hunt your own. No taking somebody else's. Understand?"

The three reluctantly complied, each going in a different direction to find another Hollow to take down. Ichimaru sighed and finished off the Hollow bird, who had been screeching obnoxiously in pain with one missing wing. Well, at least the Espada hadn't argued with him, and there hadn't been many problems. Letting them outside was definitely a good idea.

The Espada were allowed to stay outside for the majority of the afternoon, catching their own Hollow for lunch and going back to playing. Tousen had to literally drag Noitora back to the rest of the group at lunch-time (Tesla hadn't done much more than ask Noitora to come back, which, of course, was ineffective) and prevent him from chasing Nel so he could eat. As soon as lunch was over, however, Noitora took off again, determined to get Nel.

"Hah! I finally found you!" Noitora said with a sadistic laugh as he stepped toward Nel about 15 minutes after lunch.

"Oh no! He's back!" Nel screamed, being far too dramatic over a game of tag.

"That's right, you better be scared!" Without another word, Noitora ran at Nel, using his Sonido to speed up, and tackled her. The two rolled across the sand until Noitora had her pinned to the ground. He grinned.

"You are done for now." Nel stopped squirming and just looked at Noitora. The Espada looked confused. "Aren't you going to scream? I'm going to kill you!"

When Nel still didn't say anything, simply staring at something behind him, Noitora turned his head around.

Bawabawa was towering over them, looking ready to eat Noitora. The Espada yelped and jumped off of Nel, who got to her feet.

"Thanks Bawabawa!" She looked at Noitora. "I'm It now. You better run!"

"I'm not running from you!" Noitora said, holding his ground.

Nel jumped at Noitora, once again using her accelerated speed. The two came into contact, the top of Nel's head bashing into Noitora's forehead. The Espada fell back, bleeding from the forehead and unconscious. Nel, due to her helmet, wasn't hurt at all. When she saw Noitora was injured, she screamed.

"Aaaaaah! Oh no, Nel is gonna be in twouble!" She stood next to Noitora, leaning over his face. She thrust her hand into her mouth, yanked it back out, and vomited all over him.

A moment later Noitora shot up. "What the...why the hell is my face all wet?!" He looked over at Nel, who was still drooling. "Did you just vomit on me?!"

Nel nodded, a smile on her face. "Uh-huh. Nel's drool can heal!"

"That is fucking disgusting!" Noitora rubbed his face on his sleeves, trying to wipe all of Nel's vomit off of him. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"You were bleeding so Nel had to heal you so Nel didn't get in twouble!"

"I don't need _you_ to heal me!"

"But I huwt you so I had to make it better!"

Noitora couldn't tell if he was angrier at the fact that Nel had been able to knock him out in the first place, or at the fact she'd healed him. The only thing he knew was that he really hated the girl standing in front of him. "I hate you."

Nel frowned and her eyes began to water. "You hate Nel? Even after Nel helped you?!" She sniffed, and burst into tears.

"Aaah! Nel! Don't cry!" Pesche said, flailing his arms in the air.

"He's just a jerk, don'tcha know!" Dondochakka added. Nel continued to cry. Loudly.

"Stop crying!" Noitora yelled, covering his ears with his hands. "I said stop crying!"

"But...you s-said you...h-hate N-Nel! Waaaaaaah!"

Noitora felt like punching something. Particularly Nel. He restrained himself, however, since he didn't want to make her cry even more. "Fine! I don't completely hate you. Just hate you a little bit. Happy?"

"But dat's still hating Nel!"

"ALRIGHT! I don't hate you! Now don't make me say it again!"

Nel immediately stopped crying and grinned. "Yay! You don't hate Nel!"

Noitora was all too happy when he heard Tesla calling him back. "Finally!" The Espada spun around and made his way toward Tesla without another word to Nel.

"Tesla! What took you so long?! Why aren't you there when I need you?!"

"Well, Master Noitora, I saw you playing tag with that little girl earlier, and it looked cute so-"

Noitora's glare stopped Tesla mid-sentence. "Say it's cute again, and I'll make sure you need two eye patches instead of one."

Tesla shut his mouth. Even as a five-year-old, Noitora was threatening, and Tesla knew better than to test his patience. The two walked back to the rest of the group in silence.

Once all the Espada were gathered, the Shinigami and fraccion brought them back inside Las Noches. The artificial sun had almost set by this time, and the Espada seemed to have released all their excess energy. They all returned to the toy room, where Ichimaru and Tousen meant to keep them for the rest of the night. For once, Ichimaru was hopeful that it wouldn't be too bad, seeing as the Espada had run around almost from artificial-sunrise to artificial-sunset.

His hope started to fade once Grimmjow and Aaroneiro began arguing over Aaroneiro's bag of cookies.

"Hey, Aaroneiro, I want some too! You can't take all of them to yourself!"

Aaroneiro clutched the bag to him as it if was his child. "No. You had some yesterday."

"I had, like, two!"

"Don't care. The rest are mine."

Before a fistfight could break out, Ichimaru kneeled down beside the two. "Aaroneiro, why don'tcha share some cookies with Grimmjow? You have a lot."

Aaroneiro glared. "Because they are mine."

"Cookies?" Yammy suddenly said, walking over to Aaroneiro. "I want some cookies."

"No! They are mine!"

Ichimaru groaned. Wonderful, just wonderful. Had it been anybody else, Ichimaru might have had a chance getting the Espada to share, but asking Aaroneiro to share was as impossible as getting Aizen to give up tea for a day. "Alright, how is this, I'll go and get everyone some cookies."

"Really?" Yammy asked, a smile forming on his face.

"Yep. Now just wait, and don't argue over cookies while I'm gone." Ichimaru stood back up and walked over to Tousen. "I'm gonna go to the human world real quick to grab some cookies for the brats."

Tousen raised an eyebrow. "Cookies? Are you sure about that, Ichimaru?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well...you are giving sugar to children...Espada children at that. Don't you think they'll get a little...rambunctious?"

"A little can't hurt. It'll shut 'em up."

"Alright, but if anything happens, you are going to have to take care of it."

"Don't worry, it'll be alright."

Oh how Ichimaru regretted those words a half hour later.

Not only had he gotten the children cookies, but he had picked up various candies as well, in case some of them didn't want cookies and complained they wanted something else. It wasn't until the Espada started zooming around the room that he realized what Tousen had meant by giving them sugar. The fact that they had never had human snacks before didn't help. Even Stark, who hated doing so much as leaving his room, was being unusually active. Lilinette, of course, to take full advantage of Stark's once-in-a-lifetime hyper-mode by starting a game charades - which the Shinigami were grateful for, as it kept the Espada from being destructive.

"Stark! Guess what I am!" Lilinette flapped her arms while making overly-loud cawing noises.

"A bird!" Stark answered.

"Correct! Now it's your turn!"

Stark tapped his chin in thought. "Okay, I got it." He sat up straight and stared at the wall with a blank expression on his face.

"Uh..." Lilinette tilted her head to the side, watching Stark and trying to figure out just what or who he was pretending to be. "A statue?"

"No, but close."

"Ulquiorra!" Grimmjow suddenly yelled, apparently deciding to take part in the game.

Stark nodded. "Yep. You're turn."

"Okay, okay, I got a good one!" Grimmjow climbed up onto a chair, plopped himself down, and let his eyes wander over all the Espada. "Drink your tea!"

"Oh, I know, I know!" Yammy said, jumping up and down while raising his hand. "Aizen!"

"Yeah!"

"Who am I?" Yammy asked the group and grabbed two containers. He pretended to pour one into the other, then gave a fake laugh not unlike those of stereotypical, insane villains.

This time, Noitora spoke up. "Szayel!"

For about a half hour, the Espada continued with their game of charades. It was harmless, up until the point where Grimmjow and Noitora decided to act out a wrestling match. As Grimmjow had Noitora pinned to the ground, Noitora decided to try to knock him off with a Cero. Realizing what he was doing, Grimmjow quickly got up, letting the Cero hit a wall, which left a rather large hole. It was at this point that Ichimaru decided it was time to stop playing charades.

"Alright, that's enough!" Ichimaru said, grabbing Noitora's arm before he could jump at Grimmjow.

"Everyone, settle down!" Tousen yelled above the Espada and clapped his hands to get their attention. "It's getting late, so I want you all to sit down. Now, you can either play with something quietly to yourself, or I can tell another story."

"Can you tell a story where the good guy loses?" Grimmjow asked.

"How about a story where we rule the world!" Barragan suggested.

Several of the other Espada agreed.

Halibel sat down on the floor in front of Tousen. "Can the fraccion be in it too?"

Tousen nodded. "Alright, I'll come up with a good story for everyone."

About halfway through the story, the Espada had come down from their sugar rush and crashed.

"Finally." Ichimaru said with a sigh of relief.

"I told you not to give them sugar." Tousen said.

Ichimaru grumbled and changed the subject, "Should we have 'em all go back to their own rooms?"

"Shouldn't we clean up first?" Tesla asked, surveying the room. Toys were strewn all over the floor, there was still a large hole in the wall where Noitora's Cero had hit, and the Espada were covered chocolate and other various candy.

Sun-Sun made a face. "Even Lady Halibel desperately needs a bath..."

"Why don't we just leave 'em here for the night, then we can clean everything and everyone up in the morning?" Ichimaru suggested, not wanting to have to deal with anything else at the moment. "I doubt they will be getting up early to escape again. We can watch 'em in shifts or somethin'"

Tousen frowned, but couldn't think of any better ideas. He was also exhausted, and didn't really feel like cleaning. "I suppose that will work..."

Ichimaru grinned. "Good. They won't go anywhere."

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Szayel groaned as he sat up. Why was he on the floor? More importantly, why was he on a toy-and-candy-littered floor with the rest of the Espada? Afraid he had fallen asleep an inhaled some kind of fumes from one of his experiments, he pinched himself hard on the arm. Nope, he wasn't dreaming, and he was pretty sure he wasn't hallucinating either.

There were toys everywhere, as well as snacks from the human world. The wall across from Szayel had a hole in it. Aaroneiro was in the form of a Shinigami he had once consumed by the name of Kaein Shiba, clutching a bag of cookies to him like a teddy bear. Stark was curled up on his side, his head laying on a bag of marshmallows. Noitora looked like he had rolled around in dirt all day, Grimmjow had an empty honey-bun wrapper by his hand, Zommari had the remains of a stick of rock candy near his head, Yammy was asleep in a pile of Leggos, Halibel had frosting on her cheek, an empty juice-box was laying in Ulquiorra's open hand, and Barragan was hugging some kind of plastic scepter. And was that...chocolate he tasted on his lips? Szayel was just about convinced he was in an experiment-induced coma and was having insane dreams with Noitora's voice sounded from Szayel's right.

"What the fuck?"

Grimmjow snorted and sat up. "Ugh...the hell is all this?"

One by one, the adult Espada woke up, in a room full of toys and candy, each of them with utterly confused expressions on their faces.

"Ugh, my stomach hurts..." Aaroneiro groaned and tossed the bag he had been holding aside, which now contained no more than three chocolate chip cookies.

"What did we do last night?" Stark asked, stretching his arms and legs. "I'm so sore."

"Don't look at me." Szayel said, glaring at all those who had their eyes on him. "If I wanted to use you all for an experiment, I wouldn't have joined in myself."

Yammy rubbed his head. "What was in the tea?"

"I don't know, but I'm never drinking Aizen's fucking tea again." Noitora grumbled.

"I think we all agree it's best to never speak of this again. Never." Halibel said, picking a chocolate sprinkle from her hair.

"Agreed." Came the response from all the Espada.

And never again did any Espada even dare to mention that morning.

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**Bonus!**

Resignation

"Good mornin', Aizen!" Ichimaru said cheerfully as he strode up to Aizen's throne.

"Ah, Gin. You seem rather happy today."

"Well, of course, now that that incident is over."

Aizen nodded once. "You and Kaname did a wonderful job."

"Yeah? Well, I got somethin' for ya." Ichimaru said and dropped a manilla envelope onto Aizen's lap. "See ya!"

Before Aizen had even got the envelope opened and withdrew it's contents, Ichimaru had left the room. Curious, the self-proclaimed god looked through the papers. They documented, in detail, the entire incident, taking a few times to mention, in carefully selected words, how Gin and Kaname had done so much work, in other words saying how Aizen himself had done nothing to help. After those were formal resignation papers. At the end was a single, loose paper with far less words on it.

_Dear Lord Aizen,_

_I quit._

_Love, Ichimaru Gin._

_P.S.: Don't bother trying to stop me, I'm already on my way to Soul Society. If I'm lucky, Rangiku will be my executioner. If I'm really lucky, my cause of death will be suffocation. Have fun with ruling the world and all that!_

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_Author's Note: And there you have it, folks, the end of Espada Children. Thanks to Naotoki-Yamanouchi for the idea of the Espada waking up sticky from candy, as well as all the other ideas she's helped me out with during the course of this story. Also, thanks to everyone who has followed this fanfiction to the end. I never expected it to get as much attention as it did, so thank you all so much!_


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